Nero, Act 3
by TheBeed
Summary: Nero's story continues through the events of Dragon Age 2, Act 3. Sexual content, graphic violence, disturbing themes and swearing. OC/Fenris, Anders/Bethany, Hawke/Isabela. There is no Fenders, sorry. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Nero was carrying a bag of elfroot through Darktown for Anders when he was stopped by a young girl stepping in front of him. She worried her little hands together and couldn't meet his gaze but tried several times to speak. He smiled and, setting the bag on the ground, knelt in front of her.

"Is there something I can help you with, little one?" he asked gently.

"I-I-I-I-It's about the doctor." She stuttered, "he doesn't answer the door much anymore, and everyone is getting very worried about him." for the first time she met his eyes, "you visit him a lot... is he okay?"

Nero sighed and sat back. He couldn't very well tell her the truth, that Anders was anything _but_ okay. He was thin and bony, he was gaunt and had dark circles under his eyes, he never went to the Hanged Man anymore, it was a rare event for him to go on a job with Hawke or the people he once called friends, he never seemed to answer the door, and he could not spend more than ten minutes with someone without either asking their views on mages or lecturing them about it. He was irate and stubborn and entirely _not_ Anders. But he couldn't tell this little girl that the doctor was possessed by a spirit that had probably completely taken over his mind, so he ended up telling the most obvious lie he could come up with.

"He's not been feeling so great himself, he is distracted by adult problems. What's your name, I'll tell him you hope he feels better when I see him." He said with a smile that he sincerely hoped didn't come out as a grimace.

"I'm Winifred, but everyone calls me Winni." She said shyly.

He stood, "alright Winni, I'll let him know you're worried. Now head on home, its dangerous to be out here alone, even in the daytime."

She nodded and ran off, and he continued down the path that lead to the mage's clinic. This was not the first time he had been stopped on the way to the clinic, people wondering what was wrong with the healer. He never knew what to tell them, he simply promised to let him know that they were worried. When he did he was almost certain he never got through to the man.

In the past year or two he had even stopped bringing most of his elfroot to Darktown, after one time when he saw one of the harvests he had taken getting old in the corner. He sold them to Solivitus in the gallows, for much more than they were worth. The man got the money from the Chantry and Templar organizations, as he worked for them, so he liked to waste it. Nero didn't argue, Solivitus was a kind man, and Nero had watched him give away poultices to poor people that came to him for his cheap prices, so he knew his elfroot wasn't going to waste. He usually only brought Anders a quarter of his harvests.

He approached the door to the clinic and paused, steeling himself for the inevitable argument. There was always an argument, _always_. With a deep breath he placed the key in the door, the one Anders had given him when he lived there, and opened it. He rolled his eyes when he saw Anders writing at his desk, as he always was, and set the bag down in the middle of the floor. Anders turned at his entrance, placed his quill on the desk and stood to greet him, as he always did. And Nero asked him what he was writing, as he always did. But this time, Anders answered, which quite surprised Nero.

"I've been trying to write down my arguments." Anders said, "to convince someone like you that the circle is abusive and unjust. You are practically one of us, how can you not see it? Mages gifts are granted by the Maker, how is it any man can call himself a Templar and set himself above us?"

Nero gaped at him for several seconds before saying, "hold on, back up. 'To convince someone like me?' I've never said I was against your thing."

A disgusted look crossed the mages face, "you've never said you were for it either."

"Maker's breath, again?" Nero sighed, "I don't _have_ an opinion on it. I can't really make one. I have only your word to go by on what the circle is like, and I have seen what its like when mages have their freedom. Both are coming across as terrible options to me."

Anders scowled at him, "maybe we should throw you in the circle so that you'll understand."

"You can't be serious."

The scowl stayed on the mages face for several minutes before he realized what he just said, "I'm sorry, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But the fact remains the same. You either stand with us, or against us."

"Well then, what arguments have you come up with?" Nero asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Anders reached behind him and grabbed one of the papers to read from, "'Andraste suffered at the hands of Magisters, thus she feared the influence of magic. But if the Maker blamed magic for the Magisters' actions in the Black City, why would he still gift us with it? The oppression of mages stems from the fears of men, not the will of the Maker.' What do you think?"

Nero thought about it for a few moments, "its a compelling argument..."

Anders scowled at him again, "...but?"

Nero offered an apologetic smile, "But...my 'Maker' is not the same as yours, my 'magic' is not the same as yours. I am not Andrastian, I have no reason to be. It's a compelling argument, like I said, and may affect many people, but it hasn't pushed me to pick a side."

Anders threw his hands up in disgust and began pacing, "you remember Ser Alrik's plan, how many more templars want to see mages as their mindless slaves? Surely you can understand my desire to prevent that."

"I can...yes, but not all templars are like that. We've met good templars, Ser...shit, what was his name, the guy with the red hair?"

"Ser Thrask?"

"Yes, him. He wouldn't want to see mages be made slaves. And I'm sure he's not the only one. And not all mages are like you, there are evil, twisted ones out there, I know you know this, you've met them."

"Corrupt mages were made that way by Templar abuses ninety percent of the time. And-"

"And corrupt templars were made to hate mages so strongly because of corrupt mages. How many templars do you think have had a family member killed or have witnessed their friends torn to pieces because of blood magic?"

Anders shook his head, "it's not like that, you don't understand. Templars are trained to hate mages, as are everyday men. Everybody is told, time and time again, that mages are dangerous and evil and that we're all weak and are going to turn into demons at any moment, whether we've passed our harrowing or not. Children are cast away from their families all the time because they show a hint of magic and their parents are terrified of it. Its not just the Chantry that needs to see how wrong they are, everybody needs to."

Nero sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Anders, mages _are_ dangerous, and if this damned city is anything to go by then they do tend to turn into demons quite frequently. And what do you propose, that every mage be left with it's family? Even if no one else in that family has magic and, therefore, they cant be trained?"

"So ripping them from their families and never being allowed to contact them is the only solution? I'm sure there are plenty of mages out there that would be willing to tutor a child that has no one else to tutor them."

"And how long till they start charging for their tutoring services? What about the poor people that can't afford it? And what if they are terrible tutors, what if the child doesn't learn anything? You can't deny that there is a logic behind sending mages to a place where there are several other, experienced mages to train them."

"Maybe it would be different if these children could be sent home at the end of the day, but they aren't. They are kept in a tower with no privacy and are watched constantly by people that despise them-"

"Mages are born everywhere, Anders. Its not plausible for a child to walk to and from the tower everyday when they live three cities away; what are they supposed to do? Are their parents supposed to move? What if their parents own a farm, or a business? You can't just up and leave all that behind to go live somewhere where you might not know the customs or the language or the people."

Anders slammed his fist down on the table, "no one, especially not young children, deserves to be sent to live in a place where they are despised and ridiculed, where the threat of tranquility ever looms over their heads, where they are taught to be afraid of themselves and the only other people like them, where they are shut off from the rest of the world, where they are raped and beaten and are denied the gift of having a family of their own. It's an injustice, and it needs to be rectified."

Surprised, and sort of worried, that this outburst didn't bring out Justice, Nero stepped backwards. He found himself wondering how their friendship could have been destroyed to the point that they couldn't even have a conversation without one of them getting angry and yelling. He sighed quietly, and said "maybe your right. I don't know, and that's my point, _I don't know_. But arguing about it isn't going to enlighten me on it, maybe when your done your manifesto I'll read it and understand. But for now...maybe I should just leave. Oh, and a little girl wanted me to tell you she is worried about you, her name is Winni."

Anders ran a hand through his hair and nodded, Nero wasn't even at the door before the mage was sitting at the desk again, the sound of the quill scratching on the paper the only good-bye he heard.

...

As he often did after visiting the mage, Nero headed to the Hanged Man for a drink. He refused to admit it, but when he had problems that he couldn't solve he dealt with it by getting drunk. He only got tipsy for the smaller problems, which is why he didn't plan on staying over-long at the bar.

When he opened the door and stepped in Corff greeted him with a nod, and he found his eyes drifting to where Isabela used to sit. He sighed, they hadn't heard from her in three years, not since the Qunari incident and he missed her. Sure she was overly obsessed with sex and boats, but she was still someone he considered a friend, even if not a close one. And she was a hell of a drinking buddy, he had been doing a lot more drinking these past three years than ever before. She would have made good company.

He sat in her old spot and ordered a shot of something hard and a glass of something light. He threw back the whiskey and paid Corff before he leaned back against the wall and nursed his ale.

When he had returned from the deep roads...the second time, after the whole Corypheus thing, was when he first started drinking. He and Fenris had finally, officially, ended whatever they had had and he had refused to live in the same house as him. And directly after they returned Bethany had stayed for a week or so at the clinic with Anders, so he had rented a room at the Hanged Man.

He spent quite a bit of time quite deliriously drunk, which was quite wonderful as Isabela had still been there then. They laughed and teased each other and she even let him win at cards a couple of times. But then the Qunari thing happened and she was gone and he moved back in with Anders, which became terribly awkward and lonely in its own right, after a while. He still drank then too, but he hid it better, or Anders was always just too distracted to notice, either way, as far as he knew, nobody realized he was basically an alcoholic...except maybe the guy that he bought his liqueur from.

When he had first moved back into the mansion, about a year after the Qunari incident, he still drank. But not everyday, and not to get drunk. Something about living in the same house as the elf made him want to do something better with his time and his freedom. And he was often worried that Fenris would find him passed out in a puddle of his own puke or that, while drunk, he would try to sleep with him.

Nero chuckled at that thought, he didn't need to get drunk to sleep with Fenris, it turned out. He just needed a near-death experience and a long un-used libido. When he woke up in Fenris' arms that night...he was too tired or delirious or _something_ to stop himself from kissing the elf. And when he had woken up again the next morning without Fenris there, he just took it for what it was. And when it happened again a couple of months later he left Fenris' room before morning. And it kept happening after that, every few months they ended up sleeping together, but leaving for their own rooms before morning. They never spoke about it, and they pretended that it never happened around the others. As far as Nero knew it was their dirty little secret.

As for his drinking, he only had a drink once in a while; and he couldn't remember the last time he got plastered. It had been a while since he had heard from any hunters or slavers, so why not?


	2. Chapter 2

After Hawke became Champion of Kirkwall he became very busy. He constantly got invited to parties, and Aveline insisted he had to go to at least some of them, he also constantly received requests for his services. He practically became a mercenary again, only this time around he was the one passing out the jobs more than he was taking them on himself.

And that's how Nero, Varric, and, begrudgingly, Anders ended up on the wounded coast, looking for a girl named Orlanna. Anders was walking ahead of them, mumbling to himself and barely watching where he was going. Varric watched him before looking up at Nero, worry evident on his face.

"You're best friends, aren't you? What is with him?" He asked.

Nero shrugged, "I'm not sure, to be honest. And if we are still considered best friends, then that's a testament to how poorly he treats all of you. Just last week I was at his clinic and we ended up yelling at each other."

Varric whistled, "do I even need to ask what about?"

"Highly unlikely. He says that I either stand 'with' the mages, or 'against' them and gets angry when I say I'm not on either side."

Varric watched the mage for few more minutes before saying, "has he gotten thinner?"

Nero raised his eyebrows, "you have to ask? Where have you been?"

Varric scratched his chin, "I've been avoiding seeing him. I love the man like a brother, but I don't know if that's the same Anders I knew six years ago. And he sure as the void hasn't come to see me. From what I hear he never leaves his clinic, and rarely lets people in."

Nero frowned, "that's what I gather...I don't know how much of the real Anders is left."

"You mean, you think Justice has taken over?"

"I don't know. I'm not an expert on possession, but...we've had arguments and there are certain points where he is so angry that three years ago Justice would be appearing. But I don't think I've seen Justice emerge at all this past year. I don't know if Justice is controlling him physically but he has definitely affected the man's mind so much that all he thinks about is the 'mages plight'."

Suddenly Anders stopped and turned to face them, he retraced his steps so that he was an arms reach away and said, "I've always told you Justice and I are one, why do you question it now?"

"I thought we were being quiet." Nero muttered.

"You were, but I heard you."

"We're just worried, Blondie. You're so antisocial, and we never see you anymore. You need to live a little. Come to the Hanged Man tonight, we'll play cards like we used to." Varric suggested.

"How can I relax or play games when my brothers are being tortured in the Chantry's prisons?" Anders asked.

Varric stared at him awkwardly for several minutes and Nero, after seeing the dwarf's loss for words told himself to mark this day on his calender and blurted out "I've been thinking...I have a theory. Have you ever wanted to be separated from Justice?"

Anders looked at him, expressionless, for several minutes, before speaking. "What is your theory?"

Nero scowled at the mage for ignoring his question, but answered anyway. "The river is completely separate from the Fade, right? And I can manipulate the river, which flows through everyone...I'm thinking that if I were to sort of push as much of the river into you all at once it would sort of flush out Justice, as he is made entirely from the fade. And you should remain intact...in theory, anyway."

Anders thought about this for several minutes, and even began pacing. Finally he stopped and said, "I'll have to consider it, so much could go wrong..."

Excited that Anders actually seemed to like the idea, as opposed to telling him to go fuck himself like he had expected, Nero clapped him on the back and said, "good, now perhaps we should continue looking for that girl."

They searched the coast for most of the day and Nero's legs were getting tired from trying to walk in the sand. They had also failed to bring any food, and were growing quite hungry before they ended up stumbling upon the girl in a small cul de sac, surrounded by a few dead mercenary bodies. She seemed unharmed, and was extremely calm despite the obvious struggle that had taken place.

"You there." She said when they approached, "Did my love send you? Will you take me to him?"

"Either your father didn't give us the whole story, or I really, really hope you're talking about someone else." Varric said.

"Feynriel, the man of my dreams! These brutes intended to take my maidenhood. As they argued about who would go first, I fainted!" she told them, "then Feynriel spoke to me in a vision and told me not to fear. When I awoke the men had slain one another. Please take me to Feynriel, I want to thank him properly."

Nero's jaw dropped, the girl was clearly crazy, and he looked to the other two for an explanation, the dwarf shrugged his shoulders, but Anders told him, "Feynriel is a mage we helped from becoming a slave before you came along. He's also the one that we went to the fade to save from demons. He went to Tevinter, to get training."

Nero raised an eyebrow at this, "so...you saved him from making a deal with a demon...to send him to a place whose mages kind of have a thing for making deals with demons?"

Anders ran a hand through his hair, "yes, well...I never said any of it made sense."

"You know where he is then?" the girl, Orlanna asked, "please let me know, I must meet him!"

"Well I don't really know where he is right now. He was going to Tevinter three years ago, but a lot happens in three years, he might have found a group of Dalish that could help him better. I have no way of contacting him." Anders explained.

"It seems I must wait a bit longer for my love." she sighed, "thank you for your aid, I will find my own way back to Kirkwall. Perhaps the walk will tire me and we will be reunited in my dreams! Feynriel, my love, I'm coming."

Varric frowned, "Uh, maybe not the best idea, princess. There could be more of these men coming, or you could run into more on the way back to Kirkwall-"

He was interrupted by a blond man blocking the only exit from the cul de sac "'ey, what 'id you do to my men? I'll kill ya till your good an' dead." he said.

"Maker, could he sound stupider?" Nero muttered to the dwarf as he un-sheathed his weapons.

Varric laughed and loaded Bianca. There were five of them, bandits, by the look of it, and all but one held a sword and a large shield. Nero cursed, he hated shields. They did this terribly annoying blocking thing that more often than not dulled his blades. He ran forward anyway, to meet the man that had spoken, and when he did the first thing he did was kick the shield.

Surprised by the move, the warrior fell backwards, flailing his arms as he fell - which resulted in the heavy shield laying on the ground beside him. He didn't have time to pull it up to cover himself before Nero had sunk both of his blades in the man's chest. There was no time to watch the man sputter and cough up blood as he was being attacked by somebody else. He heard a whoosh as a blade nearly sliced his ear off, _not that there's much to take off anymore,_ he thought bitterly.

He jumped away and held his blades in a defensive stance, ready to block the next blow, only to hear Anders say, "suck on a fireball!" and then he was jumping out of the way of flames that scattered all around the second warrior when the fireball hit his shield. He was so distracted by not catching fire that he was caught off guard when another of the Bandits smacked him with his shield, sending him to the ground with a ring in his ears.

He lay dazed for a moment then rolled away just as a sword hit the ground and dug into the sand where he was just laying. He sincerely wished that there was a warrior on their side, as he wasn't so great taking on several opponents at once. With a grunt he pushed himself to his feet and pulled the knife from his belt, he was about to throw it at the man that had shoved him to the ground but suddenly there was an arrow going through his neck and blood spurting everywhere. _I think Varric severed an artery, maker's breath that dwarf is good._

He felt a presence behind him and, turning with a dagger ready, he decapitated the rogue that was just about to sink his blades into his back. He backed away from the body as it fell forward, he wasn't particularly bloody at the moment and he hoped to keep it that way. And with a quick glance he was pleased to see that the enemy was down.

Varric laughed as Nero approached him, "you got one, Violet. One."

Nero scowled, "yes well, the focus of my attention was on not getting cut, you were safe back here were there weren't blades swinging every which way."

"Point taken, just try not to be so bitter about it." Varric chuckled.

"Anyways," Nero said, motioning towards the girl they were being paid to rescue, "somebody feel like explaining to her that we need to take her back to Kirkwall, _with us_. So she doesn't, you know, die?"

Varric smiled, "I'm no good with that kind of thing, you should go on, convince the young lady we will be her knights in shining armor."

Nero raised an eyebrow, "are you kidding me? You're no good at talking to a young woman?" Varric shrugged his shoulders, "Oh for Andraste's sake, fine." he scowled as he approached the young lady, leaving Varric and Anders relatively alone.

Varric, hoping that Nero was wrong, and that it was still Anders in there, decided to try a joke, "so, three templars walk into a tavern."

Anders sighed tiredly, "not right now, Varric."

"You feeling all right, Blondie? You're always in the mood for templar jokes." He frowned, he may not have been as good of friends with the mage as Nero was, but they were still relatively close. They used to sit in the tavern and tell stupid jokes to each other all the time, and Anders was a decent story teller. He definitely had some interesting tales from his time as a Gray Warden. It was just so strange to him, that Anders could change so much, without any sign of his old self.

Varric didn't try speaking to the healer again until they were on the road, Nero having successfully convinced the girl to join them. He, unfortunately, seemed to have won her favor somehow and was stuck listening to her describe the extravagant wedding she planned to have with her love, Feynriel.

Varric snickered at the exasperated look on Nero's face, and glanced up at the mage walking beside him. Encouraged by the small smile, and the lack of muttering, he tried another joke.

"So, the knight-commander... Boiling in oil? That one never gets old."

Anders scowled, "this is past time for joking."

Varric frowned, "I'm helping you indulge in elaborate revenge fantasies. I think it's good for you."

"Meredith will die. Do not doubt that." Anders told him.

"Go away, Justice. Can Anders come out and play?" Varric teased.

"Stop."

"You are no fun anymore."

Several minutes passed with Varric simply watching Anders as they walked, only glancing ahead now and again to make sure he wasn't going to walk into a hole or something. Anders, noticing, tried to ignore it, but eventually he grew irritated and demanded to know what the dwarf was looking at.

"Just wondering if the feathered pauldrons are an essential part of the moody rebel mage persona." Varric asked.

Anders raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "...what?"

"I'm working on an epic poem about a hopelessly romantic apostate waging an epic struggle against forces he can't possibly defeat."

Anders' face darkened, "what do you mean, "can't possibly defeat?"

Varric shrugged and looked away, "well, it's not a good story unless the hero dies. "

"Even if I die, that does not mean I'll lose." Anders told him.

"Well...from where I'm standing..."

"Andraste died, that doesn't mean she failed."

Varric chuckled, "when did you become so faithful? I'm a dwarf, if I use Andraste and the Maker as curses its not because I believe in them."

"Then why do you?"

"Because everyone else does, I picked it up."

"You are like Nero, you've never picked a side." Anders said suddenly.

"And I never will."

"Someday you may have to."

...

Nero was in a bad mood by the time they returned to Kirkwall, and the setting sun kept shining in his eyes, which was making it worse. Anders retreated to Darktown almost immediately, and Varric, good man that he was, decided to take the girl off of Nero's hands and offered to take her home. Nero would forever be grateful. If he had to hear one more detail about a wedding cake, or a dress, he was going to stab himself in the neck with a rusty fork.

He had told Varric that he would meet him at the Hanged Man, since it was diamondback night, and headed to the tavern. Unfortunately, he was not there very long.

He had just walked in when Corff motioned him over, "Nero, good to see you."

Nero warily raised an eyebrow, Corff seemed twitchy, and never called him over just to talk, "same to you."

Corff leaned in, and motioned for Nero to do the same, "It must have been around noon today. There was this old man who came in early in the morning, was definitely a mage, and proud of it, you could tell by the way he carried his staff. And I'm fairly certain he was wearing tevinter robes." Nero stiffened, hoping, for the sake of his own sanity, that Corff was an idiot when it came to clothing, "Anyway, he had rented a room, and he had some armed men with him, and an elf boy, he sent the elf boy out and-"

"Corff, I appreciate the details, I do. But can you get to the point?" Nero interrupted hastily.

Corff nodded, "of course. Anyway, around noon your elf friend, the one with the white hair, he came in and when he caught site of the old man he drew his weapon. I think he was going to kill him right here in the bar, but then the old man said something to him, and he lowered his weapon and they talked some more, and then the elf left with him. But he didn't look happy about it. Not that he looks happy about anything. I just thought you should know, it seemed like something-"

"Do you have any idea where they were going?" Nero interrupted, his heart pounding loudly in his chest, terror and anger flooding his senses.

"Oh, after they left the little elf boy came to return the key to the room and said something about the docks-"

"Tell Varric exactly what you told me when he comes, and tell him I went after them." Nero said in a rush before running out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Brandel's Reach is an island.

Also, when Fenris is thinking, its in Tevinter...only I'm translating it because, why the hell not. And Fenris swears a lot. Particularly in his head.

* * *

Fenris woke up late, but didn't get out of bed. It was warm under the blankets, and he could tell that it was cold everywhere else. Cold by his standards, at least. _Nero understands that; at least someone does_.

He scowled. Every damned night, as he was falling asleep, he thought of the other man, and his thoughts always returned to him when he woke up. It was annoying. Clearly they were not getting back together, if they were it would have happened by now. Three years is a long time to yearn for someone else, and he was growing tired of it.

But alas, he could not help it. He felt an unexplainable joy when he made Nero smile, or laugh, and worried when Nero was stressed. He hadn't moved out when Nero moved back in, like he had told himself he would. He couldn't. He assured himself it was because he had nowhere else to go, but he knew it was because he missed Nero's presence in the house. And now that Nero was back...

He grabbed the pillow beside his and covered his face with an angry sigh. What were they doing? They flirted, they teased each other, they didn't avoid each other as often anymore. They even had sex every few months. What did it mean?

_Maybe Nero is sleeping with me because he's horny, and that's all it is._

_Maybe if I stayed some night and didn't leave before morning, I could find out._

_Ugh, I'll never do that. What if he told me to leave? I'm pathetic._

_But wasn't this the problem before? We were together but we never clarified anything? It's been a year and a half, maybe it's time to talk about it._

_But what if he doesn't want what I want? What if this is as good as I can get? _

_I shouldn't push it, I could ruin even this tiny shred of hope I have, then what would I do?_

_Completely lose my shit, probably_.

He tossed the pillow covering his face off the bed, and sighed loudly. He was tormenting himself, why did he keep sleeping with Nero when they avoided each other like the plague for weeks afterwords? Why would he do that to himself? _Because, you love it when it happens, you idiot. _Wasn't that the worst part? He was always a mess afterwords; unsure what to say, what to do. He could never decide if he wanted to go tell Nero what it meant to him, or if he wanted to end it altogether. And every time he convinced himself that it was a good thing, that this was the time he would stay, or ask Nero to stay, and everything would go back to how it was those short months three years ago. Before...

_Fuck Arsenio, fuck Hadriana, fuck Esperance, and, why not, fuck Hawke. Fuck me. I'm an idiot. I'm a self-centered, angry, bastard. Fuck Denarius, how dare you do this to me. You're ruining my life even now, you cocksucker. _

He sighed.

_It's my fault, I just wish I knew how to act. Do other people know what to do? Should I ask for advice? I'll probably become the butt of jokes if I did that, best to trust my own instincts. If only my instincts made sense. I shouldn't say anything, ever. I should end it before it begins next time. I'm not capable of having a relationship, look at the pathetic mess I've made out of the only one I've been in? I'm too ignorant and lost...how could I provide for him if I'm too busy obsessing over what I'm suppose to be doing? _

And so the tirade of self-hatred began, as it did every morning. Although it usually started _after _he had gotten out of bed. He laughed sadly to himself, this was such a routine, it was almost comical. Except for the part where it hurt like the void.

He stood up and shivered in the chill, which wasn't as bad as he expected, but still there. He grumbled at himself as he headed for the small tub of water, and splashed it on his face, in an effort to wake himself up. He shivered again as it dripped down his chest and stomach, to soak into his pants. With a sigh he dunked his hands back in the water and ran his fingers through his hair, so that it wouldn't stick up in odd places as it always did when he woke up.

He dressed slowly, not sure what he was going to do, but he knew today was going to be one of those days that he couldn't sit in the mansion and stew in his self-loathing. It would drive him mad, and he'd probably break something. Maybe Hawke would have a job he could do, or maybe he could visit Donnic, or Sebastian. He grimaced, not Sebastian then. He was a smart man, and Fenris enjoyed their debates and conversations, but sometimes Sebastian's faith was...overwhelming. And he wasn't in the mood for it today.

As he was heading out the door he remembered that Donnic was doing day shifts now, so he would be working. Fenris sighed heavily, and headed down the stairs that would take him to Hawke's estate.

_Maybe if Hawke has nothing for me I'll go home and read something. I don't think I ever read the Book of Shartan that Hawke gave me..._

_I thought the whole point was getting _out_ of the house._

_Dammit._

_Maybe Varric, he's always looking for an excuse not to work. Cards could be fun, for a couple of hours._

_I wonder where Isabela is._

_In a brothel, a clinic, or a bed, no doubt._

He snorted as he knocked on Hawke's door. He waited a few minutes before knocking again, this time he heard barking and Bodahn yelling at Sandal to quiet the dog down. Then Sandal started barking, which actually made the dog stop, but then Bodahn had to tell Sandal to stop barking. _Madness_. he smirked.

A few seconds after the noise quieted down Bodahn opened the door, "Messere Fenris, good to see you."

"Is Hawke in?"

"He is, but he's got company. Madam MacDonald has brought her daughter over, and they are having tea. You could wait in the library if you wish, but they may be a while."

Fenris smirked at the idea of Hawke having suitors pushed on him again; everyone had to know his preferences. Gossip spread through Hightown like wildfire. The noblewoman must be ignoring it, and hoping for the best. Poor man.

"I'll come back later." he told the dwarf.

"Thank you, Messere." Bodahn smiled and shut the door quietly.

"Varric it is then." He said to himself as he made his way down the long staircase leading to Lowtown.

He took his time as he trekked through the city, he was in no rush, and if Varric wasn't there then he would have no choice but to go home and read. He used to read in the garden, before Nero moved back in, but even though Nero always started tending the garden fully clothed, he always ended up shirtless, in spite of his scars, and it was very...distracting, to say the least. Nero was a very fit man, and it was...pleasant to watch him sweating and covered in dirt and-

_Stop it. You are not some adolescent boy, you have the ability to control yourself._

_I might as well be, I sure as fuck feel like one when he's around._

_That's because I need to shut the fuck up and think about Varric._

_...my logic is stupid...but effective._

Picturing the dwarf stopped him from experiencing an awkward erection in public quite well. He loved the hairy bastard, but not in that way. Dwarves sort of...looked funny. Everything was so short and stumpy...and hairy, they were effectively the complete opposite of elves. Which made whatever relationship that was going on with the dwarf and elf that sent them into the deep roads three years ago after their idiot children strange indeed.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts before entering the bar, surprised that he had made it there so quick considering he was trying to take his time. But then, Denarius was a fast walker, and he didn't want his bodyguard lagging behind so Fenris had learned to walk fast, just as he had learned to wake up alert, eat, sleep and breathe quietly, not speak his opinion, and to hate mages.

He opened the door and allowed a moment for his vision to adjust to the dimness, it was only then that he realized who the gray-haired man with a staff in the corner was. It had been many years since he had last seen the man, he was not so gray then, nor were his wrinkles as pronounced. Time had not been kind to him. He was frozen stiff with terror for a moment, instincts from the last time he had seen this man's face kicking in, telling him he had disobeyed and he was going to be punished. Then he remembered he had been free for almost a decade, and he pulled the blade from his back, rage tinged with a small amount of fear infusing his entire existence. What would happen if he failed to kill this bastard?

Denarius had seen the elf come in, and had stood from his chair when he did. As he approached the elf he saw the fear in his eyes, but only for a moment before the blade was readied and the elf was preparing to swing at him.

Denarius smiled and said, "hold on a moment, my little wolf. I have some information you might wish to know."

"Is this about my supposed sister? Hadriana told me all about her before I crushed her heart." Fenris snarled.

"This is about your friend, I believe they named him Nero?" Denarius said with a satisfied smirk.

Fenris' heart sank, and his posture eased. _Not Nero..._, "what did you do?" he demanded angrily.

"Nothing yet. Put down your blade, and perhaps I will tell you."

Hesitantly, Fenris lowered the sword, but did not re-sheath it, not yet. Not while this bastard was right in front of him. Denarius smiled at him, which almost made Fenris want to vomit. How did he ever live for that smile?

"You see, my little wolf. I have a deal to make with you. Right now I have some of my best men following this Nero around, prepared to capture him if I do not send word by the time the sun sets. Now, a part of me has considered just taking him, as he is the Archons property, and there is a wealthy reward offered for his return. Much more than the lyrium you hold is worth. But I do miss my little wolf. So I thought to myself, I wonder, what is more important to you. Your freedom, or his?"

...

"Maker's breath, here, is this enough?" Nero said, handing three sovereigns to the Harbormaster.

Liam smiled, "I'll sing like a canary now, what do you want to know?"

"A ship might have left here around noon or a bit after, it was possibly Tevinter, do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Aye, I thought it was ballsy bringing a Tevinter ship out here, nobody really likes-"

"Do you know exactly when they left and where they were going?" Nero demanded impatiently, practically bouncing on his feet in his eagerness to go.

"Well I told the Captain of the ship that they really shouldn't be leaving as I've heard word that there is a storm coming down from Hercinia. They say its going right along the coast, and traveling between Ostwick and Brandel's Reach is tricky at best, outright dangerous in a storm. Captain said it was fine, he'd just head to Ostwick and wait out the storm, apparently whoever was paying him was in a hurry-"

"If a dwarf comes through here and asks if you've seen me, tell him where I'm going, would you?" he turned to leave when Liam laid a hand on his shoulder.

The harbormaster smirked, "well, I'll need some more coin for that."

Nero sighed, "look, I promise you he will be able to pay you, just tell him that you know so he does. If he doesn't...tell him anyway and demand payment from Garrett Hawke, he'll pay you."

"Sounds tricky-"

"If you don't I'll tell the guard that you harbored a slaver ship, because that's what it was, so will you do it?" he said in a rush.

Liam sighed, "I suppose. Just don't tell nobody-"

But Nero was already running to the east entrance to Kirkwall. When he got outside of the city walls he banged on the door to the stables, but nobody answered. He waited a few seconds before glancing across the street at a tavern, where horses were tied outside, while their masters drank within.

"Aw, shit." he muttered before trotting over quietly.

He approached the horses, silently thanking the powers that be for Krispen, one of his creator's, having a fancy for hunting and demanding that he be brought along for protection and because he figured that the Archon might want the same thing. Esperance, of course, had protested, saying it was dangerous or whatnot, but Krispen insisted. Nero had liked Krispen the best, he treated Nero the most like a human...a slave, but still a human.

But even though it wouldn't be his first time on a horse, it had still been years since he had been on one. The last time had been just after he escaped Esperance, he had stolen one of their horses and ran as far and as fast as he could. But eventually he had to sell the horse for food. He approached the closest horse to him, a black stallion with one white hoof. It eyed him warily, and he slowly reached a hand out and placed it on his shoulder. The horse's skin twitched but otherwise he did not move. Nero got closer and trailed his hand along the horses neck, till he was touching the bridal. Then, with one hand, he untied the bridal from the post and placed a hand on the horses chest, urging him to back up.

It snorted but did as he asked, and, hoping that the horse hadn't been ridden too hard that day, he hopped up into the saddle. The horse didn't seem to care, which was good, he didn't particularly feel like getting thrown off of the beast. It was either very well trained, or just seemed to like him, as he barely had to touch his heels behind the horses elbows for it to move forward.

As much as he wanted to get the beast to run, _right now_, he knew that he had to work up to it. So they started at a slow pace into the woods, onto a small path. The same one that Nero had used the first time he had gotten into Kirkwall. Absentmindedly he realized that he hadn't bothered adjusting the straps of the stirrups, but was pleased to find that whoever owned this horse seemed to be the same height as him.

When he figured he had been walking for an hour he urged the horse into a trot, which almost threw him off, he forgot how...bumpy this part was, and he was already sore from sitting in the saddle for so long. He waited as long as he could handle before he got the horse to run. He had it running through most of the night, only stopping once by a stream so the horse, and he, could drink. His stomach grumbled and he suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten since that morning. He was so hungry he almost felt like gagging, which was just stupid, but there was nothing edible around..well, nothing edible for a human. The horse seemed pleased with the grass. _Bastard._

With a sigh he jumped back into the saddle and was running again for several hours, before the horse began to tire. He frowned, irritated, but sympathetic. Then an idea struck him, _what if_...deciding to give it a shot he felt along the river for the opening to the horses stream, when he found it he pushed it open, increasing the amount flowing into the animal. Then he pushed as much of the flow into the horse as he could.

He smiled with satisfaction when the horse's pace quickened.


	4. Chapter 4

It didn't take long at all for Denarius to shove him in a cage. There was a metal loop in the floor of said cage that the shackles around his wrists were attached to, preventing him from sitting up straight. The shackles were lined with some sort of anti-lyrium rune, which prevented him from phasing through them. He was sore, and hungry, and thirsty. And the sound of rain lashing against the side of the ship was nothing but a tease, making him want a drink even more. Luckily he had grown used to the waves tossing the boat, and him, from side to side.

He could hear the clink of dishes and the murmur of voices above him, but the worst part was the smell of ham that kept sending his stomach rolling. He tried to tell himself to get used to it, this was how he used to live, and how he was going to have to live again. His meals were often withheld from him, especially when he did something Denarius disapproved of. And having escaped nine years ago was high on the list of things Denarius disapproved of, hence the cage. He wasn't even in Denarius' room, as he expected he would be kept. Denarius, had put him in the hold, had even hung his sword from the wall by the door to taunt him. He said that, as much as he had missed his 'little wolf' he was having a hard time suppressing his rage at Fenris' disobedience. He was surrounded by crates and other random things, and he had spent plenty of time at first imagining what they might contain. But that game grew boring, quickly.

He sighed loudly and leaned his head against one of the bars, wishing that he could fall asleep and be released from this torment for a short while. But he was far too stressed, his thoughts ran in agonizing circles. He kept wondering if Denarius would keep his word and leave Nero alone, what atrocities would he have to partake in again when they reached Tevinter, what punishments would he have to endure before Denarius was satisfied? The magister had already spent an hour sending burning electricity through his markings, which cause him to scream and spasm in agony. A pain that he had thought he would never have to experience again.

Luckily Denarius was still too angry with him to take him, yet. He did not look forward to those hateful hands on him again, and the selfish, careless abandon the man operated with being forced into him. Not now, not since he learned that there were other, pleasant, blissful ways to experience the act. With a quiet sob he told himself to push those thoughts away, he may not experience it again, but he was giving Nero the opportunity to experience it the rest of his life. He only hoped that reminding himself of this would always bring him a comfort, and not end up causing him pain.

It was difficult to imagine the past nine years were over. So much had happened, he had felt things he did not know existed, he had made his own decisions, he had run his own life. He learned to read, he learned to write, he learned how to win was at cards. He would miss them, all of them. Maybe even Anders, he snorted. Maybe there would come a day that he would miss his old life so much that if he saw Anders he would be joyful, just for the memories the mage would bring. A depressing prospect, indeed.

Would he ever be able to readjust to a slaves life again, now that he knew freedom? _I'll have to, or else..._ How would he be able to stop himself from defending himself when Denarius or other magisters insulted and made fun of him? He had believed their words before, he didn't think he would now. What about if someone smacked him, would he hit them back instinctively? How would he adjust to sleeping on a poorly made straw mattress after sleeping in a nobleman's bed for the past three years? How many punishments would he receive before he re-learned his place?

He felt his muscles tense suddenly, his throat close, and his eyes burn like they were on fire. Being a slave the first time was not enjoyable, but it wasn't so terrifying. How could he complain when he had nothing else to compare it to? Going back to it after tasting freedom...for a moment he considered lowering himself so that he could reach his hand into his own chest and crush his own heart. Slowly he took a deep breath, and refused to let the panic overtake him. He did not know what Denarius would do if he killed himself, but he was fairly certain it would involve Nero, and that was what he was making an effort to avoid. It was a testament to how far he had fallen that he even entertained the idea, even for a moment.

He wished that Denarius was around, it made him nervous, being so close to Kirkwall and not know where the magister was. When they had reached Ostwick they had docked and Denarius had headed into town to rent a place to sleep, as he disliked sleeping on a ship. Or so he said. What if he was waiting for word of Nero's capture, what if Fenris' efforts were in vain, and he had submitted to Denarius' will for no reason whatsoever?

_You'll drive yourself mad, thinking like that, you-_

He tilted his head in confusion and strained his hearing. It was suddenly, very quiet above him. He was certain that he would have noticed if the sailors had left the kitchen to go elsewhere. Then there was a yell and the clash of metal striking metal. _A rival group of slavers, maybe?_

...

Nero didn't even need to speak to the harbormaster of Ostwick; as soon as he arrived at the docks he recognized the red and yellow coloring of the ships collapsed sails, even through the misty wind that was making it difficult to see things clearly. He stormed over to the ship, and boarded it without being stopped. No one was out to stop him. _Which is good for them,_ he thought, seeing the ship brought out an anger in him that he hadn't felt since he had confronted Ser Alrik and Eugene under the Gallows.

He didn't even notice the ship swaying roughly on the waves as he approached the only door. It wasn't locked and when he closed it behind him he stopped to listen. He heard some voices coming from down the hall, in a room to the right. Following the sound he found himself on the other side of a closed door and drew his weapons. His stomach didn't even grumble at the smell of food, and later he would realize that this was what Fenris had meant three years ago when he said that anger used to sustain him.

When he had left Kirkwall he had become numb, he wasn't sure what was to blame. The hunger? The exhaustion? Even the horse had collapsed before he reached the city, despite his pushing the essence into it. Normally he would have checked, to make sure the beast was okay, or to kill it if it wasn't, but he just ran. His lungs were still sore from breathing so hard after running so far, he couldn't feel any pain in his legs...but he couldn't really feel them that well at all anymore. _I'm going to be a mess when this is all over with_, he thought blankly. He wasn't quite running instinctively, but he wasn't capable of much emotion nor thought either.

When he reached his hand out to open the door he realized, though was unsurprised to find, that he was smoking purple again. Ignoring it he threw open the door to find six men sitting at a table, looking at him curiously.

"Where is the elf?" He demanded menacingly.

No one moved for several seconds, and then in a rush one with red hair yelled and, pulling his sword from it's scabbard, he ran at Nero. Nero blocked the blow and waited for a few more of the men to approach him before he let go a pulse of energy, tossing them away from him. He approached the first one that attacked him, stabbing three of them as he walked past their moaning forms on the floor.

When he reached the red-head he grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him from off of the table, where he had landed. Raising his dagger he placed the tip at the side of the man's neck, and asked again, "where is the elf?"

The man shook his head, "I don't know who you mean-"

Nero let the dagger sink a few centimeters into the man's neck, seeing out of the corner of his eye the remaining two men cowering in the opposite corner. The red-head screamed in his hands and Nero scoffed, the cut wasn't deep at all, it was barely even bleeding. He asked the question again.

"Where. Is. The. Elf?"

"He's in the hold, in a cage. Only the apprentice has the key."

"And where is Denarius?"

The man blanched at the mention of the magister's name, but said "he is staying at an inn somewhere in town, I don't know which one."

Nero smiled at him darkly before sinking his dagger into the man to the hilt,his blade was tilted at such an angle that it severed the man's aorta and punctured his right lung. He let go of the red-heads shirt and watched as he fell, effectively releasing his blade. He turned to the two remaining men, ignoring their screams of terror as he slit their throats.

Turning he left the room and closed the door behind him. Seeing a ladder leading downwards on the opposite side of the hall he smirked again, _how convenient._

Descending the ladder he found himself in a dark hallway, and didn't move for several minutes as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The hallway was shorter than the one above him, with a closed door at the end of the hall, with four more doors leading to it, two on either side; only one had light shining from under it. It was one of the last doors, and he approached it without pretense.

He threw the door open to find a young man writing at his desk, he wore standard Tevinter robes and had shoulder length, orange hair. For just a moment Nero was caught by how much this man reminded him of Anders, but then he shook his head. Anders may be different, but he knew that the man still wouldn't stand for the things that magisters partake in. He was strongly against blood magic, which was ironic, considering his whole possession thing. Wasn't the making a deal with a demon part the thing that made blood magic bad?

Nero focused his attention on the man, who was now standing, and grabbing his staff.

He charged into the room and grabbed the mage by the throat, pinning him against the wall. "I hear you have a key. I need it." He hissed.

The mage coughed and struggled to get Nero to release him and Nero sighed, dropping the man to the floor, the bastard couldn't give him the key if he was busy trying to breathe. He turned as he heard footsteps approach, presuming that whoever was coming must be reacting to the sound of him throwing the door open.

He saw a foot emerge around the corner of the door frame and jumped to action, swinging his dagger so hard that he not only decapitated the man, but buried it tightly into the door frame. After a couple of attempts to pull it free he snarled and picked the be-headed man's sword off of the floor.

The door across the hall flew open with two more men standing there, weapons at the ready. Nero tried to get the new blade comfortable in his grasp, but abandoned the attempts in favor of running, shoulder first, into the front man, sending him flying into the other man, and forcing them all to the floor.

Nero was the first to recover and rolled to his feet, with a swing of his blades he both stabbed one man in the chest and cut open his stomach. Pulling his blade free he turned to face the remaining man, who stared, dumbfounded, at his dieing friend.

Nero was beginning to get quite annoyed with how easy it was to cut through these men. He would have expected better from Denarius.

After he slit this man's throat open he realized that Denarius probably took the best fighters with him; what magister would expect anyone to rescue a slave?

He shook his head at the magister's stupidity and walked back out into the hall. He didn't realize till too late that he had forgotten about the apprentice. While he was busy with the last two men the mage had fled his room and now stood at the ladder; when he saw Nero he let loose a blast of magic so powerful that it threw him through the door at the end of the hallway and into the hold.

Nero landed in a now broken crate, that appeared to have been filled with some sort of grain. He groaned painfully and rolled onto his side, throwing pieces of wood off of him as he went. He couldn't focus on anything for several minutes, but he forced himself to his feet anyway. He realized that there was a sharp pain in his right side every time he inhaled, and wondered for a second if perhaps he broke something. But then he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye as the mage down the hall tossed a fireball at him. He moved out of the way just in time, causing the fireball to hit the broken crate, but it didn't catch fire.

He quickly realized that he had lost his weapons and searched the floor frantically for them. The mage was advancing down the hall, readying another spell, and Nero glanced nervously at the doorway. Then he saw a familiar sword glinting in the firelight. He grinned manically, and ran to it.

Lethandris, Fenris' sword, was heavy, and he lifted it with a little struggle. He was sure he would never be able to stand up to a long battle with such a blade, but it was the best he could do at that moment. He waited quietly for the mage to get close to the holding area, contacting the river so that he knew the exact location the man stood. The mage was slowly approaching the shattered doorway, but stopped just short of entering.

With a mental shrug he rounded the corner and kicked the mage in the chest, sending him falling to the floor and the second fireball he had readied shot into one of the other rooms. Hefting the sword as far above as he could in the cramped space, he swung it down with as much force as he had. The mage spurted blood from his mouth, and died when Nero went about searching his pockets for the key.

He swore when he couldn't find it and headed into the room he had first encountered the apprentice in. He rolled his eyes as he found the key on the desk, wondering how he missed it the first time he was in the room. He stopped moving for a second, and tried to listen for sounds of anyone else approaching, but couldn't hear much over the sound of his heart beating hard.

When he left the room he tried again to get his dagger out of the door frame, but failed. When he re-entered the hold of the ship it didn't take long for him to locate the elf. Fenris sat in a metal cage, chained to the bottom of it, not four feet away from where he had landed when the spell threw him through the door.

...

Fenris began to get nervous when the sounds of fighting reached the other side of the door. What would Denarius do if he was taken by another group of slavers? Would he realize that's who it was? Or would he assume it was one of Fenris' friends and go after them in Kirkwall? He fought with the chain holding him to the floor and tried to phase through them, even though he knew he couldn't.

He let out a string of curses, but they were cut short by something flying into the room. He turned away from the wood splintering into different directions, and it was only when he heard a familiar groan that he looked over to where the man was rolling to his side. All Fenris could do was gape at him, his mouth hanging open stupidly and too stunned to even form a thought.

He watched helplessly, and with quite a bit of surprise, when Nero took his sword off he wall and took down the mage, Denarius' apprentice. He hadn't even been aware that Nero could lift the thing, much less fight with it, inside a ship, no less.

His brain was suddenly flooded with questions, but he was still too stunned to sort them out. He waited for Nero to return, and when he did he tried desperately to get his mouth to form at least one of his questions. Of course, it was the stupidest one.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, amazement evident in his face.

Nero's brain was screaming at him to get the elf and _go_. He was fairly certain that if he looked the elf in the face he would fall apart, so he refused to look at Fenris as he unlocked the door to the cage and began unlocking the cuffs, "I'm rescuing you."

Fenris hissed when he stood and his joints and back popped painfully. He was barely out of the cage when he said, "you can't, if you take me, they'll come after you."

Despite what he said, he felt not concern, or worry. He didn't feel anything just then, not even surprise. Later he would conclude that he must have thought he was dreaming. He felt like he embodied the term 'blank'.

Nero ignored him anyway.

The events of the last twenty-four hours began to weigh on Nero, and he was beginning to feel sore, and tired, and very hungry. He lead the elf back the way he had come, only stopping twice. Once when he realized that they should probably hide Fenris, as he was extremely easy to identify, so he searched one of the rooms and found a rather cheaply made, but large, cloak which did a pretty good job of hiding the elf completely. The second time he stopped was when he found one of his blades on the ground, and to let Fenris fetch his sword and try, unsuccessfully, to get Nero's other dagger out of the wall. He frowned, but left it. He could buy another one.


	5. Chapter 5

By the time they reached somewhere to stay the night Nero was leaning on the elf, the pain in his side suddenly very overwhelming. He just wanted to eat and sleep, and then leave the bloody town. Maybe he would ask Aveline if they could stay in the barracks for a while, he didn't think Denarius would follow them there.

When they opened the door to the tavern Nero's stomach grumbled painfully, which caused him to gasp, which in turn caused his ribs to hurt. After the pain subsided a little bit he realized that it was a testament to his hunger that he could smell the food at all, the place didn't seem much better than the Hanged Man. In fact it almost seemed like the same place, except that the building was all different and the smell of vomit and piss was stronger.

"You do have money on you, right?" Fenris suddenly asked. He was terribly tense and nervous, he wanted to leave the damned town and get as far away from Denarius as he could...but in the condition Nero was in...that wasn't an option.

Nero left Fenris at a table not far from the bar before he asked the bartender for two bowls of whatever it was he was cooking and a room, he ended up having to get one with one bed as all the other rooms were taken, but at that moment he couldn't care less. He was pulling the coin purse from his belt when a thought struck him.

"What are the chances you have a health poultice I could buy?"

The bartender laughed, "This is a bar, not a hospice."

He frowned but nodded his thanks anyway and paid the man, returning to the table to find Fenris already digging into a bowl of stew that was placed there. He still hadn't looked at the elf yet, only caught glimpses of his blurry form out of the corner of his eye, he sat down beside him, as opposed to across from him, and dug into his own supper, ignoring the fact that the 'meat' didn't remind him of any meat he had ever eaten. He ordered seconds despite the exhaustion slamming into him, but he only got two spoonfuls down before he felt a terrible twist in his stomach and almost threw it all up.

Taking that as a sign that he was done eating he offered the bowl to Fenris, who was only sipping at his own. With a mental shrug he carefully got out of the chair and limped over to the stairs, looking at the room key on the way to see which one it belonged to. He tried not to move too much of his body at one time as the pain was so potent that he could hear a ringing in his ears.

When they reached the room he stood gingerly in the middle of it, staring longingly at the bed. Fenris removed the cloak and set it by the already lit fireplace to dry before he realized that Nero was holding his side, but not moving.

He raised an eyebrow, "whats wrong?"

Nero jumped at the sound, then made a choking sound and tried desperately not to move, or even breath till the excruciating pain died down a little. Then he said, "I want to sleep, I _need_ to sleep. But I think I broke some ribs, and I don't know if I can lay down." he said quietly.

Fenris frowned, unsure what to do. His own exhaustion was making it very difficult to think clearly, and that was aside from the shock that still hadn't left him. Then Nero steeled himself and took a step towards the bed, he carefully lowered himself onto it, determined to get through he pain till he was laying down. He got himself into a sitting position and took a few small breaths before he turned to lower himself. He was almost completely flat when he felt something move where he was still clutching his ribs and his vision turned stark white and he fell to the bed with a half grunt/half scream of pain.

Fenris watched the man's agony, feeling useless and idiotic all the while. Perhaps he should have killed Denarius and then searched for Nero to help him fight whoever the magister had sent after him. _But what if I couldn't stand against Denarius? If I had failed surely he would have taken both me and Nero. That wasn't an option,_ he told himself.

He paced in the small room angrily as Nero waited for the pain to subside enough that he could handle breathing again. Fenris was angry at himself for, once again, managing to fuck things up, and putting Nero at risk in the process. He _knew_ they were dangerous to each other, and now look what had happened. And he was angry with Denarius for not leaving him be, it had been almost a decade, why couldn't the man just give up? And he was angry at Nero, for coming after him even though he had made the decision to go with Denarius to _spare_ him. What would he have done if Denarius was on the ship? The apprentice managed to injure Nero so badly that he couldn't breath deeply without it hurting, what did he think Denarius would have done with him?

If Nero was so determined to rescue him why didn't he get some backup before he came? It was reckless and stupid to give chase when he didn't even really know what he was dealing with. What if Denarius had brought friends along, what if the crew left on the ship wasn't a bunch of half-drunk sailors but well trained mercenaries or soldiers?

He glanced at Nero, half-forgetting that he was suffering and intending to demand answers to his questions when he realized that the man wasn't so tense anymore and his head was hanging limply to the side. It was a testament to Nero's exhaustion that he could fall asleep so easily in such a state.

Fenris sighed and sat on the floor, leaning his back against the bed, wishing that there were chairs in the room that he could sleep in. Luckily he ended up falling asleep in that position quite easily.

...

"Would you damned people take this outside?" the bartender yelled from downstairs.

Fenris startled awake in his chair and instantly wished he had at least laid down on the floor before he fell sleep. It was their third night in the inn, and Nero said the pain was getting better, but Fenris didn't believe him. At least they were able to switch to a different room though, this one still only had one bed, one that would surely fit the both of them, but Fenris slept on the chair anyway.

He snapped his neck painfully and glanced at Nero, who was surprisingly awake, though obviously in pain. Nero still lay on his back with his hands at his sides, clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white and his face was contorted into an expression of agony. He was breathing slowly, trying not to take shallow breaths Fenris assumed.

"I need to get you a doctor." He said.

Nero snapped his eyes open and said quietly, though forcefully, "no, you can't go out there alone. We don't know where Denarius is. He'll be looking for you."

Fenris sighed and looked away "you shouldn't have come alone."

"But I did. There was no time to get the others."

"You shouldn't have come at all." Fenris insisted.

He heard a quiet chuckle and then a hiss of pain from behind him and turned around to face the other man. Nero _needed_ to see a doctor and they couldn't stay in this room forever, Fenris knew. But Nero was right, Denarius would still be out there, it was amazing in an of itself that the magister hadn't found them already, maybe he didn't know that Fenris was gone yet.

After several minutes of silence Nero continued their conversation, "if I didn't feel like I was dieing I would yell at you, maybe slap you a few times. How can you tell me I shouldn't have come, would you have not done the same? You came after me when that nobleman took me."

Fenris scowled, "but I didn't go alone, and this is different. I left with Denarius of my own will, you had no right-"

Nero turned his head so that he could look angrily into Fenris' eyes while he said, "do not tell me what I had the right to do. You did not make any move to stay in the hold of that ship when I unlocked your cage. I don't know what Denarius said to you to make you think you had to go with him but nothing is worth losing your freedom for, not when you've fought so hard for it all this time."

Fenris turned away with a sigh, refusing to respond. He only noticed that there was a ruckus taking place downstairs while they spoke when it stopped, he tilted his head to listen and was surprised by what he heard.

"Why do you always fight in here, Isabela?" the bartender asked.

There was a familiar laugh then, "because its muddy outside, and I'm already in here."

"Is that Isabela I hear?" Nero asked, obviously having listened as well.

Fenris stood and grabbed his cloak, it was still damp, "I'm going to see."

Nero began to protest but before he got the words out Fenris was closing the door behind him. Although if the clarity of the conversation he had just heard from downstairs was anything to go by then he could have just muttered it and the elf would have heard him. What were the walls made of, paper?

When Fenris descended the stairs he found Isabela at the bar, in the same position as she usually was in the Hanged Man; nursing a drink and leaning against the counter seductively. She hadn't changed at all in three years, _and why is she so close to Kirkwall?_ he wondered.

She didn't notice him until he stood beside her and said her name by way of a greeting.

She jumped when he spoke and turned to face him, a hand on her chest "Maker's breath, Fenris. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

He smirked, "I have that effect on people, sometimes."

She rolled her eyes, "what are you doing here? What's with the cloak?"

"I could ask you the same question."

She leaned back against the bar, "I just stayed here for the night to ride out the end of the storm, I'm going to Kirkwall."

He raised an eyebrow in question, he didn't imagine it was to see all her old friends again.

She sighed at his expression, "Castillon is there, looking for me. I need to deal with him...and Hawke promised me he would help me with Castillion, so..."

Fenris barked out a humorless laugh, "and you think he's going to agree to do so, after everything that's happened with the Qunari?"

She looked away, trying to hide her shame, after several minutes she said, "he's a man that sticks to his word. It can't hurt to ask."

"Unless he strangles you the moment he sees you."

"He wouldn't do that...would he?" She questioned.

Fenris shrugged, "maybe, he was very angry after you left the second time, but he hasn't mentioned you in years."

"I'm almost insulted by that."

Fenris chuckled.

"So did you ever work things out with Nero?" She asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

He scowled at her, "it's...complicated."

She smiled, "relationships usually are... You never told me what you were doing here."

"That is also complicated."

She rolled her eyes, "are you going to tell me or not?"

He sighed and looked up the stairs to the door of his room, "come with me, and we'll tell you."

She frowned but pushed herself away from the bar to follow him, "we?"

...

"Okay, and you think staying in the town that his ship is docked at is a good idea?" Isabela asked with a roll of her eyes.

"No, but we don't have much option-" Fenris began.

"It hurts to fucking breathe, I don't think leaving this building and risking running into Denarius is such a great idea." Nero interrupted.

"Well shit, don't you have any health potions or poultices on you?" she asked.

Nero rolled his eyes while Fenris said, "if we did, don't you think we would have used them?"

She tapped her chin with a finger and thought, "do you have any money? I could go buy you some."

"How unexpected, your offering to help!" Nero muttered.

"Ignore him, he's in a bad mood." Fenris said, he reached into one of Nero's pockets and handed the bag of coins to Isabela, "thanks for the help."

She smiled and nodded then turned and left the room. Fenris sighed heavily, _this is a fucking mess_.

"You do realize we possibly just gave all of our money away without any chance of having it returned, right?" Nero asked.

"I will find and crush her, if that happens." Fenris told him.

...

As Isabela searched Ostwick for a healer or alchemist she watched silently as a man surrounded by six guards strode down the street towards the docks with purpose. She wondered momentarily if that was the Denarius that she had heard so much about, he certainly didn't look like much. She snorted, _most mages don't..except Anders, he used to be rather...large_, she thought with a smirk, remembering thier encounter at The Pearl in Ferelden.

She forgot about the old man rather quickly when she found a potions stall. She was looking for something that might help Nero, and was about to ask the woman who ran the stall for help when she heard another familiar voice that she hadn't heard in years.

"Rivaini!"

_Really? Is everyone in Ostwick today? _Despite her thoughts she turned to the dwarf with a genuine smile on her face, she had missed the little man.

"Varric, what are you doing here?" She asked, after bending down to give him a brief hug.

"Searching for Nero, apparently he ran off to find the elf, the trail leads here. I'm not completely sure where to look for him at, I'm not familiar with Ostwick, neither are the others."

"Everyone else is here too?" She asked, suddenly nervous, unsure how they would great her. "Where are they at?"

"We stopped in a breakfast house when we got to town, I'm too antsy to eat however. I decided I would see if there is still a Tevinter boat in port, or if we're too late."

Isabela smirked, "well...there is, but Fenris isn't on it, neither is Nero."

...

Denarius looked at the mess that was his Apprentice angrily. He didn't need to look through the broken doorway to know that Fenris wasn't there anymore, somebody had obviously come to fetch him. _I should have kept him with me...if only I wasn't filled with such a murderous rage when I looked at him. This is rediculous._ he thought angrily.

He took a step around the man on the floor, a pathetic excuse for a man, but an excellent mage. He looked in the room to the left, to see two more dead sailors before trying to pull the blade form the door frame. What a peculiar place to leave a dagger.

When it didn't budge he sighed tiredly and built a small shield around himself and sent a pulse of energy at the door frame, effectively breaking the dagger free in a shower of splinters. He looked at it closely, nearly dropping it when he saw the Archon's crest on it.

_I should have known,_ he thought with a snarl. _I cannot take on both of them at once, not with this pathetic group of men. I remember when they would pin him against opponents that should have been able to kill him easily, the slave's a monster. _

"Abandon the ship, all of the sailors are dead. Procure a carriage and horses, we're going back to the Imperium." He hollered to his guards.

* * *

A/N: When Nero was being trained they would pit him against other people, to fight to the death as part of his training. This stopped for the most part when he became a whore, but the Archon would occasionally send a prisoner over that was meant for execution or whatnot. I mentioned this at some point, but I dont know if everyone would remember.


	6. Chapter 6

"You have two fractures and one displaced rib fracture." Anders finally said.

Nero frowned, "what? That's not bad, right?"

"Andraste's tits, Nero! You're lucky your broken rib didn't puncture a lung or lacerated your spleen, liver or kidney. You could have collapsed a lung or died from internal blood loss, or gotten peritonitis and could have died from that." Anders exclaimed, searching through his pack for a mana potion.

Nero wasn't surprised, he certainly felt like he was dying.

Anders sighed, "at least it's still attached to the muscle, if it wasn't..."

"I don't want to know, just...fix it, please?" Nero begged.

After running into Varric in the market Isabela was taken to where Hawke, Anders, and Aveline were eating quickly. She was shocked by how exhausted they looked, and Varric explained that they had been on their feet for two days. Luckily they appeared to have been following the storm and weren't caught up in it. But they were still muddy, sore and tired.

She lead them back to the Inn that Fenris and Nero were staying at, and lead Anders upstairs where he set about healing Nero while sending the rest of them out. They were now sitting at a table downstairs, waiting for news.

Isabela spun a knife in her hand nervously, nobody had mentioned anything about the Qunari yet, despite some very questionable looks shot towards Hawke. He seemed to be waiting for something, and she was growing impatient as to when he would spring it on her. She also wanted to ask him for help with Castillon, but needed to gauge how angry he was at her first.

She took the opportunity when he rose and said he should probably book them a few rooms. Now that the storm was over most of the rooms were vacant again, he even offered to get Fenris his own room. It took some convincing on his part, but eventually the elf agreed, but only if Fenris could pay him back.

Hawke stood at the bar, waiting for the bartender to hand him the keys to the separate rooms when Isabela sidled up next to him.

"How have you been?" Hawke asked her.

"I'm fine."

He nodded and accepted the keys from the Bartender. He turned to leave but she put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Remember what you said after the mess with the Qunari?" she asked.

"I'm proud of you for doing the right thing."

"It may have been the right thing, but it was also the dumb thing. The relic was mine. I should've kept running."

"I couldn't have saved Kirkwall without you." he said.

"Bullshit. You could have stormed the keep and slaughtered all those Qunari without me. The others were there too. Look at Aveline, she's a woman shaped battering ram. The fact is, you and I have nothing in common anymore. You're a champion and I'm just a lying, thieving snake." _What are you saying, Isabela? _she chided herself, _your supposed to be buttering him up so that he helps you go after Castillon, not telling him how terrible you are. Idiot._

"Whatever you think you are, I still care about you. It must have been hard to give up the relic, and I appreciate it. Whatever comes, you have my support."

_What a stupid, stupid man_, she thought.

"Well, perhaps it's time to stop hiding. And I do miss the trouble we used to get in to." she said.

"You never said why you came back." Hawke told her.

"Castillon is in Kirkwall, I intend to deal with him. I was kind of hoping that you could help..."

"I"m so tired right now that the idea of helping anybody ever again makes me want to puke, but I probably will. Ask me again tomorrow, I'm going to go get some sleep."

...

By the time Anders came out of Nero's room the only person left waiting was Fenris. Isabela had gone out, for some reason or another and the rest of them were sleeping. Despite his hatred for the man, Fenris couldn't help but notice that Anders looked like he was going to pass out, even as he approached him.

"He's sleeping now, but he'll be fine." Anders told him.

Fenris nodded but did not reply, unsure if he wanted to go wait in Nero's room for him to wake up, or if he wanted to go to his own room to sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well since he left with Denarius, too anxious and nervous, and he was quite tired himself.

He was just about to get up when Anders spoke again.

"Do you still support the Knight-Commander?" He asked suddenly.

Fenris sighed, "I don't care a fig for her. But she's the only one holding back the madness in that city."

"Holding back? She's howling at the bloody moon!" Anders chuckled, although he turned serious again very quickly, "even her own people think she's lost it. What will it take for you to see that she's crazy?

"Mages in glass houses shouldn't throw fireballs." Fenris scowled at him.

"But by now, you must see what an injustice the templars are." Anders insisted

"Must I? I see templars trying to control what they have good reason to fear."

"But they go too far."

"Talk to Hawke about his mother. Ask him who went 'too far.'" he said angrily, growing weary of the conversation. He would never be able to talk to this mage without wanted to wring his neck.

"You can't hold all mages responsible for that!"

"It doesn't take all mages to cause this. Only the weak ones."

"Not all mages are weak." Anders said firmly

Fenris nodded, "Bethany, for instance, is not weak."

Anders frowned, "you specifically don't mention me."

Fenris gave him a mocking smile as he stood, "that's also true."

"I'll prove to you that I'm not weak" Anders told him.

"Prove it to yourself. You're convincing no one else."

As Fenris ascended the stairs Anders stood from his chair as well, muttering, "I'll never know what Nero sees in that elf."

Fenris shook his head but didn't say anything, chances were that Anders didn't think that he had heard him anyway. He headed to Nero's room and opened the door, closing it quietly behind him. Nero was sleeping so deeply that he was snoring and Fenris chuckled. Nero rarely ever snored, the only times he had heard him snore before was when they had been up most of the night...entertaining...each other.

Nero had stripped down to a sleeveless undershirt and his pants, he lay on his stomach, which made it all the more surprising that he was snoring. Fenris watched him for several minutes before he pulled the blanket up and let his fingers trace the outline of what little was left of his tattoo. When he had been taken all those years ago they had basically beat the thing off of him. One less thing a magister could Identify him with, Fenris figured.

He wanted to slip into the bed with Nero, but was unsure how it would play out when they both woke up. He shook his head and headed to his own room, it was only when he laid down to go to sleep himself that he realized that there had been a tension in his shoulders that was gone now.

...

When Fenris woke up it was late in the day, he was disappointed to learn that Nero had been up and eaten a couple of hours earlier, but he was back in bed already. With a shrug he sat down next to Varric, Hawke pushed him over a plate of food, explaining that he had bought them all supper, even though nobody was there. He tried to refuse, but Hawke gave him the eye, an expression he got when he was going to hurt somebody if they didn't do what he wanted them to. He scowled but ate his dinner.

"Varric," Hawke began, "I've heard... stories of a personal nature being spread around town."

The dwarf chuckled, "you're the Champion of Kirkwall. People pay attention to everything you do. And everyone." He paused thoughtfully, before adding, "If you want your private life to stay, uh, private, maybe don't sleep with half of Kirkwall."

"I haven't slept with half of Kirkwall, I haven't slept with anyone in ages!" Hawke exclaimed.

Isabela and Aveline opened the door to the Inn just before Hawke had spoken and Isabela smirked as she walked over to him and sat on his lap. "That's a shame, champion. Would you like to rectify this situation?"

Hawke eyed the breasts in front of his face appreciatively before smiling at her and saying, "maybe...but later."

Isabela raised an eyebrow in surprise, "really? But I thought you didn't like fe-"

"Later." He scowled at her.

She sighed and got up out of his lap to sit in a chair beside him, pulling a plate of food to herself. Aveline sank into a chair next to Fenris and did the same.

Suddenly Hawke grinned evilly, "I heard you're being fixed up with one of the Helmi daughters." he said to Varric.

Varric sighed, "thanks Hawke. I've been trying to forget about that all week."

"So... not love at first sight?"

"Dusana Helmi is easy on the eyes. Also, she's tried to kill me five times this year."

Hawke laughed, "did she try again during the date?"

"She waited until I paid for dinner. She's in the Merchant's Guild, Hawke."

"So, you're not going to see her again?"

"No. And I might stay out of town for a while just to make sure." Varric grumbled.

"Being the most eligible bachelor in the Merchant Guild is perilous indeed." Hawke mocked.

"I'm going to need more aliases." Varric frowned.

"Speaking of leaving town..." Aveline said, "it turns out that the Tevinter ship has been abandoned, as far as the townspeople know all the people on it were killed."

Fenris furrowed his brow, "how do you know?"

"They went out to find out what they could about the situation. We figured people would be more willing to talk to one of them, as opposed to us." Varric explained.

"Its the bosom, isn't it Varric." Isabela smirked.

"Of course." He smiled.

"There was also a carriage and several horses bought from somebody, there was this big argument in a bar deeper in town because apparently one guy sold this carriage when it wasn't actually his, it was quite entertaining." Isabela smiled.

"Do you think..." Fenris said thoughtfully.

"I try not to. But yes I do, I asked if they could describe who bought it and they described an old man with a staff and robes with a bunch of heavily armed guards. I think I saw the same guy a couple of days ago, after I ran into you here." She told the elf.

Fenris frowned, confused, had Denarius really given up so easily? It seemed too far-fetched to be true. He voiced his opinion and received a curt nod from Aveline, who agreed.

"We should still lay low for a few more days, I think, and keep an eye out for him. He might still be here."

"If only I had a spy network here, why couldn't the ship have stayed in Kirkwall?" Varric grumbled.

Fenris chuckled, "I'm a known acquaintance of the Champion, Denarius isn't an idiot."

"Are you sure?" Hawke asked, "He clearly didn't take into account that Nero would storm after him for taking you."

Fenris frowned and leaned back in his chair, a slight blush creeping up his neck. He heard Hawke chuckle, but thankfully the man turned to Aveline and started up a conversation with her. Isabela looked like she was going to say something about his blush but Varric shushed her, she frowned, but obeyed.

After several minutes of brooding Fenris turned to Varric and said, "so, Varric, this 'spy network' of yours..."

Varric chuckled, "oh, this I have to hear."

"You don't have one, do you? You make it all up."

"Could be. That, or I have an army of elven urchins, and they're all watching."

Fenris smirked, "you are a strange, hairy little man."

"And you, elf, are one lucky son-of-a-bitch."

"What do you mean"

Varric gave him a knowing look, "you now what I mean."

Fenris sighed tiredly, "is this about the diamondback game? Again?"

"I've never seen anyone bluff like that in my life! I was sure you had a hand full of nothing."

"So was I. " Fenris chuckled, "you're the one who pointed out I had four serpents."

"See? Luckiest bastard I've ever seen. "


	7. Chapter 7

When Nero woke up the next night he decided he wasn't tired anymore. He felt tremendously better, his side didn't ache at all anymore, and he had a bone to pick with a certain elf. He was still just wearing his undershirt and pants but he couldn't be bothered to put on the rest of his clothing. Determined, he threw open the door to his room and locked it behind himself.

"Nero, you're up. I was just coming to check on you." Anders said, surprised.

Nero turned to the mage and took in his sad appearance. The mage had told him that morning when he had been awake long enough to eat that they had traveled non-stop on foot from Kirkwall to reach Ostwick. During the travel his coat appeared to have taken a beating, the feathers were almost all gone, and the fabric seemed to have thinned in well-worn spots. He noticed, once again, how ragged the man looked and realized that everything about him was worn thin, from his personality to his clothes, but he kept everything together by sheer force of will.

Reminding himself of his destination he asked where Fenris' room was, Anders frowned.

"You shouldn't push yourself too much, for a week or so the ribs I healed will be easy to break."

Nero chuckled, "well I don't plan on taking him after Denarius or for a frolic through the woods. I think I'll be fine."

Anders sighed, "his room number is eight. Just...be careful."

Nero raised an eyebrow, "are you worried about Fenris? I didn't think you cared."

Anders snorted, "no, I don't want to see you hurt in such a way that I can't heal it."

Nero patted the other man's scruffy cheek, "oh, Anders." was all he said before he turned and headed down the hall. It didn't take him very long to find the room, and when he did he knocked as he opened the door and snuck in, shutting the door behind him.

Fenris was getting up from where he had been sitting on the mattress, surprise evident on his face, and he began to speak but didn't have time before Nero's fist connected with his chin. Nero hissed and shook his hand, trying to rid it of the pain as Fenris fell back on the mattress, hand touching his chin. He was too surprised to even hit back.

Finally Fenris recovered from his shock, "what was that for?" he demanded angrily in Tevinter, standing again.

Nero scowled and replied in the same tongue, "for making me chase you to Ostwick to save you from the stupidest decision you've ever made. It doesn't matter what he offered you, or what ultimatum he gave you, how could you be so fucking stupid?" he nearly yelled, trying to keep his own anger in check.

"You weren't supposed to come after me!" Fenris hissed.

"What did you think I would do? If you had demanded to stay when we were on the ship I would have let you go, demanded to know why, and, if there was a good enough reason, I would have let you stay. But you didn't, you were chained to the floor, you didn't want to be there."

"Don't pretend to know what I wanted." Fenris snapped.

"I'm not pretending. I've lived with you for three years, I can tell when you are happy or enjoying yourself; you weren't doing either. What would you have done if I hadn't caught up in time, and you were on your way back to Tevinter before I reached Ostwick?"

"Nothing, that's what I was planning on doing. What were you going to do? Chase me to the Imperium?" Fenris asked, exasperated.

"I would of if I had to. You are not a slave, no matter what that bastard tells you." Nero said.

"I _am_ a slave, as long as he breathes I will be no more than a slave that escaped the Imperium, I still have my chains made of anger, don't I? Even now?"

"Are you really bringing that up, I said that years ago!" He was referring to a time in the deep roads, a few days after they had ended it with each other, and they had gotten into an argument as Fenris tried again to convince him to live in the estate that Nero had bought, Nero had refused.

"It's true isn't it?

"Is it?"

Fenris scowled but did not reply, giving Nero time to gather his scattered thoughts, he didn't speak again till he had them organized. "surely you realized that after nine years things would be different, they would be worse. You didn't enjoy being a slave before, what makes you think you would enjoy it a second time around? I cannot fathom what was going through your head, to make you-"

"You!" Fenris yelled angrily , grabbing Nero by the shoulders.

Nero furrowed his brow, confused, "what?" he demanded.

"_You_ were going through my head. I went so he wouldn't take _you_!"

Nero frowned, his anger dieing quickly, as he thought about what that meant. After several minutes of contemplative silence, during which time Fenris' grip relaxed on his shoulders, but did not move and Nero was thankful that Fenris wasn't wearing his armor at that moment, his gauntlets would have hurt.

He thought back to when they had first ended whatever they had. For the first couple of years he was afraid of another relationship, be it with Fenris or anybody else. The potential for betrayal was too high, and the idea of putting his trust and feelings in someone else's hands was suddenly terrifying. Then one day he realized that they may not really be together but Fenris still had a hold on him, even if neither of them had realized it. After that it was a fear that the elf would reject him that stopped him from saying anything. But if what Fenris was saying meant what he thought it meant...

"Why?" He asked quietly, anger forgotten.

Fenris tilted his head a bit, having not heard "what?"

"Why would you do that?" Nero asked, louder.

Fenris' hands dropped from Nero's shoulders and he instinctively took a step backwards. Why?_ Why wouldn't I?_ He was confused by the question. Didn't Nero realize that _his_ freedom was more important to him than his own? They both had had nightmares from their times as slaves, but Fenris barely had them anymore, maybe once every few weeks. He still heard Nero wake up screaming, at least once a week. And he knew those were only the bad ones. He had never told the other man, but when they were together all those years ago he would wake up in the middle of the night, almost every night, to find Nero sweating with a pained expression on his face.

The point was that yes, he had been beaten and abused by Denarius, but whatever Nero went through, it must have been worse, a lot worse. And he could not let Nero experience that again, not before he'd truly been free. Nero was good at hiding it, but he was still very tortured by his past, and his freedom hadn't had a whole lot of good points.

"He said if I refused to go that he would take you instead. That's not going to happen, I wont let it."

Nero snorted, "and how were you going to protect my freedom by leaving me alone in Kirkwall while you were in Tevinter?"

"Surely Aveline, or Hawke..."

Nero sighed sadly, "why didn't you fight him?"

Fenris laughed darkly, "If I thought I could face him on my own, I wouldn't have fallen prey to a demon all those years ago, would I?"

"You could have run till you got help."

"Which would have put you and anybody I got to help me at risk. Apparently you, Anders, and Varric weren't even in town."

Nero pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fenris..."

"It was the most obvious option, I would not let you get taken back to Tevinter in chains because I was too afraid to fight Denarius or because I was too afraid to be a slave again."

"You must have forgotten that you actually have a chance of being free. If you kill Denarius then your slave contract is void, and you are considered a free man. I do not have that option, saving me was only prolonging the time it takes for me to be captured and taken back to the Imperium. The Archon, and whoever succeeds him, will not forget about me. I am a mark of their incompetence, a blemish that they would see removed."

"You will _not_ be taken prisoner to the Imperium, so long as I draw breath." Fenris said sternly.

Nero smiled sadly, he had accepted the inevitable years ago but it was touching that Fenris refused to believe it. Nero gently placed a hand on Fenris' cheek, making sure his palm did not touch the spot where he had punched him. A bruise was already forming around the line of lyrium. His fingers rested around the elf's ear and he smiled a little less sadly at how soft the elf's hair still was. It had only been a couple of months since he had last touched it, but it had felt like years.

"You have already fought so hard for your freedom, you do not need to fight for mine." Nero said quietly.

Without realizing it Fenris leaned into the hand, recognizing the callouses and being comforted by it. There was once a time he would fly into a rage if someone touched him, but that was years ago, Nero had changed him, and that was why...

"I do," He said, then furrowed his brow, "I..."

Nero waited, but when Fenris clamped his mouth shut he sighed, and began to lower his hand. Fenris, sensing that he was losing the moment, and trying desperately to ignore the fear and the fist of nerves that seemed to have plummeted from his chest to the bottom of his stomach, grabbed Nero's wrist before he could lower it completely and held it between them.

Fenris looked up to see a look of shock on Nero's face, and he furrowed his brow again fighting himself to say it, _just fucking say it_.

"I...I..._merda_, I need you." _close enough_.

Nero stared at the elf's face, watching the blush as it creeped up his ears, stunned. Fenris never admitted to needing anything, he made out like he functioned as a single unit. He was resourceful and introverted and self-reliant. He knew that Fenris liked him more than other people but, even though he wished, he never quite believed he _meant_ anything to the elf.

He had been fighting the urge for several minutes, and, now that he was speechless, the only thing Nero wanted to was to kiss him. When he made a move towards Fenris to do so the elf let go of his wrist and took another step backwards, right into the frame of the bed.

Fenris shook his head, "no, not if you plan on leaving afterwords."

"I don't"

Nero reached a hand out and placed it at the back of Fenris' neck, pulling the elf towards him. He kissed him slowly but passionately. Fenris hesitated, unsure if he should believe that Nero was going to stay or not, but he gave in anyway; he would have his answer when they were done. So he wrapped his arms around Nero and, careful of his ribs, pulled him down onto the bed, not breaking the kiss for a moment.

When he was laying on the mattress, with one leg dangling over the edge and Nero straddling his waist, he buried his fingers in the other man's black hair and bit his bottom lip. This caused Nero to moan quietly, which in turn made Fenris smile, despite the fist of nerves that seemed to grow bigger in his chest as every second ticked by. A part of him hated the feeling, it was so...strange, but he anticipated it often. It usually only appeared when Nero was around, which he often looked forward to, but sometimes he would feel it when he was only thinking about the other man...which got annoying at times.

Nero was suddenly assaulted by a great need to be with this man, which he found strange due to the fact that they were together. He was already pressing his body against the one under him, but it wasn't enough. He felt like he wanted to merge with Fenris, like he wanted their cells to squish together so forcefully that they ended up becoming one. He wished that he could implant himself in Fenris' head, so that he could know everything about him and understand the reasoning behind his decisions.

Then he felt Fenris's hands snake up his back, under his shirt and he pulled away, only long enough that he could pull it off, before descending upon the elf's neck and ear where he nibbled and sucked and licked. He was painfully aware of every part of his body touching the elf's, he could even feel the lyrium on Fenris' fingers. Fenris groaned and Nero felt it reverberate through his chest, and the fingers resting on his shoulder blades curled and Fenris drug his nails down his back, lifting one or two of them at certain intervals to avoid scratching Nero's scars - which they had learned was quite painful. Nero shivered and bit down on Fenris' shoulder. He was surprised to realize that Fenris was so familiar with his body that he knew just where and how to touch him to get the best reaction.

Suddenly Fenris flipped him over, asserting control over the situation. This only excited Nero more, he would never understand why he enjoyed it so much when Fenris took the lead, but it was an excitement that he had never felt with anybody else. Fenris rose to pull his shirt off and Nero couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and, with one hand at the small of Fenris' back and the other digging into his shoulder blade, he licked a trail up from the other man's bellybutton. Nero forced himself to stay in the position so that he could lick, kiss and bite Fenris' chest, even though it was awkward for him, what with his legs spread and Fenris kneeling between them.

Fenris' skin erupted in goosebumps and his hair stood on end when Nero licked him. It was both a pleasant and irritating experience, which in a sense made it more pleasant. _It's like when you pet a cat backwards and their hair stands up_, he thought, _except that cats tend not to like it._ It was difficult to explain, even to himself. He tossed his shirt to the floor and found himself arching his back into Nero's embrace. He enjoyed Nero's mouth on his chest for several minutes before it became too much and he pushed Nero down and attacked his nipples, causing Nero to gasp and arch his own back.

Fenris smirked and trailed his fingers down Nero's sides, causing the other man to get goosebumps this time. When his hands reached the top of Nero's pants he put one hand on the mattress and trailed his tongue along Nero's bottom lip before sucking on it and kissing him. At the same time he untied Nero's pants and pushed them down, exposing Nero's hard length.

Nero gasped into the kiss when Fenris took his thumb and lightly trailed it up the underside of his cock, involuntarily he tried to buck into the touch, to create more pressure. Fenris chuckled, as he usually did when he could tell Nero was unable to control his movements. Nero had amazing control over himself when it came to these things, Fenris always found it satisfying when he caused the other man to lose it.

...

Fenris fell to the bed beside Nero, and tried to catch his breath as he lay on his stomach. He didn't say anything as he waited for Nero to leave, and he thought he felt himself break inside when Nero finally got up off the mattress.

He rolled over, so that he was on his back and watched as Nero grabbed a cup from the single shelf and dunked it in a deep bowl of water that sat on a table by the only mirror. Nero turned around as he drank and noticed Fenris looked at him funny.

"Don't look at me like that, I know its for washing, but its water and I'm thirsty and I'm too lazy to get dressed to get something else." He said as he approached the bed.

When Nero got there he offered Fenris the cup, but he shook his head no. Shrugging he placed the cup on the nightstand and, pulling the covers down, forcing Fenris to awkwardly hold himself up as he did so, he got back in bed. He noticed that Fenris was still looking at him funny.

"What?" he asked.

Fenris finally realized that he was staring and shook his head, trying to think of something to say, which resulted in him blurting out, "you're going to need a new blade."

Nero stared blankly at him for several seconds before narrowing his eyes and saying, "is that a euphemism?"

"What? No!" Fenris laughed and let his head fall back, "I was referring to your blade that got stuck in a door frame."

"Ah yes, I'm thinking of getting a great-sword, like what you use." Nero said with a smirk.

"Your kidding." Fenris said skeptically.

"No, it was pretty handy."

"Good lord."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: It's short, think of it like an interlude. There isn't a whole lot going on here.

* * *

Even though the night had ended well, Fenris was still surprised to find Nero still sleeping soundly next to him when he awoke. He assumed it was paranoia that made it so difficult to believe the man when he said he was going to stay.  
He wasn't awake for more than twenty seconds before there was a knock on his door, loud enough that it made Nero groan and shove his face further into the pillow. Fenris smirked and got out of bed, which made Nero whine. He snorted and grabbed his pants off the floor at the same time that there was another knock on his door.  
"Just a second." He said gruffly.  
"Is Nero in there?" Anders asked, his voice muffled slightly by the door.  
"No." Nero said from the bed, before rolling onto his back with an angry sigh.  
"What?" Anders asked, irritation clear in his voice. Fenris could picture him in the hallway with his hands on his hips.  
Fenris, having gotten his pants on, dismissed his shirt on the floor in favor of opening the door, he raised an eyebrow at the mage, slightly annoyed that he was bothering him so early.  
"He's here, but he's mostly asleep." he told Anders.  
"It's past noon, why is he still sleeping?" Anders asked, exasperated at having to deal with the mage-hating elf.  
Fenris gave him a sly grin and shrugged his shoulders.  
Anders pinched the bridge of his nose, "oh, maker. I was going to check his ribs, but just tell him to find me if he ever feels like getting up."  
"Mmmkay." Nero said from the bed.  
Anders sighed and walked away. Fenris chuckled and closed the door, re-locking it before getting back in the bed and under the blankets. Nero squinted at him from under a pillow before pushing it off of him and reaching an arm out to pull Fenris closer, Nero kissed him deeply and trailed his hand down the elf's back to rest on his clothed hips. He pulled away with a frown.  
"You are wearing pants." he stated.  
"I am." Fenris said, a hint of amusement evident in his tone.  
Nero narrowed his eyes "why?"  
"I didn't feel like answering the door naked." He explained.  
Nero gave him such a pathetic pout that Fenris laughed and rolled onto his back to take his pants off.

As Anders approached the table where Isabela and Hawke were eating lunch silently, Isabela raised an eyebrow at the mage and smirked, "did I just see a topless Fenris?"  
Anders shuddered, "yes."  
"I take it you found Nero then." She said with a chuckle.  
"Ugh." was all he said before he walked out the door.  
"So how long have they not been together?" She asked Hawke, trying to get rid of the awkward silence between them.  
They still hadn't talked about what he meant when he more or less said he would sleep with her, and it had her all different sorts of confused. She had always felt an inclination towards him (why else would she come back with the relic?), he was very attractive and they had the same sense of humor. But he wasn't into women, was that not what he told her? Did he tell me that? Or did I just assume it? Oh bugger, I can't remember. She had ignored anything sexual she felt towards him because he wasn't interested in her that way...right?  
Now she was unsure what he meant, and unsure how she felt. But mostly she was unsure if she really wanted to know.  
"Since the Corypheus thing, technically. Nero lived with Anders for a year after the Qunari thing but then he moved back into the mansion." He paused and furrowed his brow.  
"What?" She asked.  
"I've never been able to figure out if they were sleeping together or if they just had arguments. Every couple of months they would go weeks avoiding each other, and if I asked them to work together one would usually back out."  
"Interesting." She said.  
"Varric tried multiple times to get one of them to spill the beans on where they stood with each other, but he failed miserably. I think he might have actually given up on it this past year." Hawke chuckled.  
"Varric unable to get information? What a travesty." She smirked.  
"They definitely had sex last night though." Hawke told her with a tired sigh, "I think they were trying to be quiet but my room is right beside Fenris' and lets just say it was a long night."  
"You poor thing, you should have come to my room, I would have let you stay the night." She said with a wink.  
If he caught the meaning behind her comment, he ignored it, "were you even here? I didn't see you come back last night and I didn't see you leave this morning." Suddenly he narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion, "what are you plotting?"  
She chuckled but refused to let her disappointment show, "sinister things, Hawke. Sinister things."

They stayed in Ostwick for a couple more days before heading back to Kirkwall. None of them wanted to walk the distance so they ended up getting a troupe of caravans that was conveniently passing through Ostwick to take them there. That also gave them plenty of time to ascertain that Denarius did, in fact, flee. Isabela also tried during that time to convince the port authorities that the Tevinter ship was actually hers, but had been stolen from her. But they refused to believe her and explained that the ship was now property of the city.  
They weren't long in the city before Sebastian found them.  
"Where have all of you been? Corff definitely knew something but he wouldn't tell me and everyone at the barracks said Aveline was away on business. What is going on?"  
Varric coughed, "that would probably be my fault. I told everyone that knew where we were going that they should keep it quiet, I didn't want anybody suspicious coming after us." He finished with a half-hearted laugh.  
Sebastian frowned, "I don't understand, why?"  
"Oh, Sebastian." Hawke said with a smirk, slinging his arm around the chantry-brother's shoulders, "It's a little complicated."  
As he explained why they were gone Anders and Varric left them. Anders to get back to his clinic and Varric to get back to work, and make sure things weren't all ruined. This left Isabela, Aveline, Nero and Fenris standing around awkwardly.  
Fenris, to the surprise of everyone, broke the silence, "I was speaking with Donnic the other day..."  
Aveline frowned "since when do you talk with my husband?"  
Fenris raised an eyebrow, "he... comes to the mansion once a week? We play diamondback."  
"What? Why am I not invited to these games? Did you know about this Nero?" She demanded to know.  
Nero was just as baffled as Fenris, "yes, I thought you knew."  
"If he didn't mention it, it might be because he says you get angry when you lose." Fenris told her.  
"I do not! All right, perhaps I do. Still, that's no reason not to tell me."  
"Perhaps he longed for less masculine companionship?" Isabela smirked.  
Aveline narrowed her eyes at the pirate, "shut up, whore."  
Isabela was about to respond but Nero quickly cut her off "I'm a little surprised he hasn't shown up while you were over gardening."  
"I tend to tell him where I'm going, habit, I think." She frowned.  
"He's a good man, Aveline. I enjoy his visits." Fenris assured her.  
Aveline threw her hands up in frustration, "fine, fine. Have your "man time," then."  
"As I was saying...Donnic tells me you have spoken of children." Fenris said.  
Aveline sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "clearly, you two talk too much."  
Fenris chuckled, "I picture a red headed brood, each able to lift a cow."  
Aveline laughed, "if you also picture Donnic carrying them to term and pushing them out of his ass, then I'm all for it."  
"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure last time I was here I saw Donnic in the Rose." Isabela said.  
"He was not!" Aveline exclaimed  
Isabela smirked, "easy, big girl. He wasn't shopping for himself. You're lucky to have a man who wants to please you. But, maybe you could indulge him more. Are there areas of intimacy you haven't explored?"  
Aveline covered her face and spoke to the sky, "why? Why do you give me these doubts!"  
Isabela laughed, "Because, Aveline. If you shove your thumb up his ass, I win."  
Fenris and Nero burst out laughing.


	9. Chapter 9

A few weeks later and there was still no sign of Denarius. Fenris had been sure that the magister would head somewhere to get back-up and then return to re-capture him, and probably Nero as well. After voicing his worry one night at the Hanged Man Hawke decided that it wouldn't be a terrible idea to have somebody else staying in the mansion with them for a while. The group agreed and they took turns staying in a spare bedroom in the mansion. The only people that wouldn't stay the night were Aveline and Anders. Aveline promised to increase guard patrol in the area in exchange but Anders claimed to be too busy, offering vague excuses when it was pointed out that he rarely opened the clinic anymore.

It was Hawke's turn to stay with the ex-slaves and they were all in the kitchen finishing off a late supper .

"You are a surprisingly good cook, Hawke." Fenris said.

Hawke smiled, "I learned from the best."

"...your mother?" Fenris guessed carefully. Hawke didn't talk about or refer to his mother very often, not since she had been so grotesquely murdered, he wasn't sure if he should bring her up at all. Luckily it didn't bring Hawke down.

"Bethany actually." Hawke said, "We were never sure where she got the skill, she certainly didn't get it from either of our parents. Mother was a noble so she never had to make her own meals and my father lived in the circle so he didn't either. Their meals were passable, but when Bethany cooked it was like eating from the maker's own hands."

"I suppose the only time I've ever eaten her cooking was when we were in the deep roads, and she didn't have much to work with then. Although she did have an ability to not burn or overcook anything." Fenris said with an evil smirk towards Nero, who scowled.

"I only burnt it that one time. I never said I could cook, it's your fault for asking me to."

Hawke laughed, "I do wish the Wardens would let Bethany live at home when she's not out in the deep roads. Orana can bake more than she can cook. Which, don't get me wrong, I do love cookies and cake. But I would kill for a dinner of Bethany's orange chicken. I can never quite replicate her recipes."

"Well you don't do a half-bad job." Nero told him, "maybe you should just move in...can he move in Fenris?"

Hawke laughed, "I don't think so. I don't think either of you would appreciate having Orana or Sandal living here. I still can't get Orana to call me Hawke and Sandal likes to climb...everything."

"I don't think the neighbors would be very pleased if you lived with a couple of slaves, either." Fenris added.

"Probably not. I'm sure it would create some rumors that would make even Isabela blush." Hawke said with a smile.

"Isabela can blush?" Nero asked incredulously.

"...you know, I'm not entirely sure."

"What do you think of her return?" Fenris asked.

Hawke frowned, "I'm not mad at her...she didn't have to stay way so long. It's in her nature to look out for herself first. I'm still more amazed that she came back with the relic, to be honest."

"She could have prevented the entire Qunari attack." Fenris said darkly.

"Maybe so," Hawke replied thoughtfully, "but how was she to know that the Aarishok would attack the city? And who's to say he wouldn't have done it anyway?"

Fenris frowned, but didn't reply.

"Its nice to have her back, at least." Nero said, "although I can't really figure out why she did come back after all this time in the first place."

"Castillon was in town, I had promised her that I would help her deal with him, and I did. She has a ship now, what's preventing her from leaving...well I'm not so sure."

"She stole his ship?" Nero asked.

"No, he gave it to her, and promised to leave her alone, in exchange for...his life." Hawke said, he felt guilty for lying, but he wasn't about to admit to these two that she had promised to expose his part in the slave trade if he didn't meet her needs. He still felt terrible for his role in it, but he told himself that the man was going to have a hard time trading in slaves when he didn't have a ship to keep them on.

"And she believed him?"

"Apparently sailors are good on their word?" Hawke laughed, "I don't really buy it either, but she believed him...although I think she just wanted the ship."

"Does this mean we have to refer to her as captain now?" Nero laughed.

"Maker's breath, I hope not..." suddenly Hawke remembered that he had run into Sebastian earlier that day, on his way to Nero's estate "Oh, I have to go to the Chantry."

"I didn't take you as the religious type, Hawke." Nero smirked.

Hawke chuckled, "I ran into Sebastian, he said he wanted to speak to me, but he didn't have time then."

"We can go over now, if you would like." Fenris said.

Nero frowned, "do I have to? I hate the Chantry."

"Wouldn't leaving you here alone defeat the whole purpose of the precautions we've taken?"

Nero rolled his eyes, "I hate you."

"Of course." Fenris smirked.

...

They left for the Chantry not long after, stopping only once to greet Donnic as the Guard shift changed over to the nighttime shift. Since it was dark out there weren't many people traversing the streets of Hightown so they were able to make their way to the Chantry without being stopped repeatedly by people wishing to greet the Champion. A definite downside to going anywhere with Hawke.

Nero wasn't surprised when they, once again, stumbled upon a heated discussion taking place between Sebastian and Grand Cleric Elthina. He could never figure out why the woman never kicked the prince out, but then...he acted a tad less egotistical around her.

"First Enchanter Orsino has overstepped his bounds!" Sebastian was saying, likely referring to the confrontation between Orsino and Meredith that had taken place earlier that day, it had been an interesting altercation to watch...for everyone except Hawke.

"He was provoked." Elthina told him.

"The people want to know which side you favor. It weakens you."

"Strength will not win this fight, Sebastian. If the Maker is merciful he will help them find peace. We can only be waiting when they do."

"Do you never intend to give a public answer then, your grace?"

"What have I been asked?' Elthina demanded to know, even though she knew the answer already

"About the mages! You could calm this fire if you stepped forward. "

"The Chantry's teachings are clear, those who turn against them would not listen more to me than to Andraste."

"Mage this, Templar that. Is there anywhere in Kirkwall people don't talk about this?" Hawke asked tiredly.

"The last time mages rebelled against the Chantry, they ended up ruling Tevinter. Should we just ignore them?" Sebastian asked the champion.

"I knew I liked you." Fenris said with a smirk.

Nero scowled, but nobody seemed to notice.

"I did not expect things to deteriorate so fast. I thought after the Qunari, no one would wish for more violence." Elthina said, "It has drawn more attention than I would like. Sebastian, If I can ask-"

"Anything, Your Grace." Sebastian said with a small bow.

"And the champion too, If you will...?"

"I can't imagine any way this will go wrong." Hawke responded.

"What would you have of us?" Sebastian asked.

"The divine is concerned about the situation here. She does not want to see the Free Marches become another Imperium. She has sent an agent to ...assess the danger. Meet with her please, tell her drastic measures wont be required."

"I don't want to see the Divine's armies march against Kirkwall. That is an awful lot of Templars." Hawke said.

"Surely the divine wouldn't treat the whole city as enemies." Sebastian frowned

"She is concerned, it is never wise to draw the concern of the powerful." Elthina told him

"Words to live by." Nero said.

"She is the voice of Andraste. She cannot turn the might of the Chantry against the innocent due to...proximity." Sebastian insisted

"Were no innocents harmed in the Exalted Marches? She will do her best, Sebastian, but she must act first to protect the faith."

"What can you tell me about this servant of the Divine" Hawke asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I was not told her real name, only to call her Sister Nightingale. She is said to be the Divines left hand, sent to do work that might blacken the divines name."

Nero snorted and Sebastian gave him a hard glare.

"What argument would convince her?" Hawke asked.

"The divine has heard my protests already. I must trust your own powers of persuasion now." Elthina said sadly.

"This cannot wait."

"Thank you. We cannot allow this...ridiculous mage rebellion to turn into a holy war." Sebastian said

"The agent, Sister Nightingale, will be waiting in the Viscount's throne room tonight. She wishes to remain...unseen. The room has been sealed since the Qunari attack. It may be difficult to get in without attracting attention."

Hawked grinned at the Grand Cleric, "I'm super good at not attracting attention."

...

"You do realize that you are terrible for attracting attention, right?" Nero said as they ascended the steps to the Viscounts keep.

"I'm not that bad." Hawke frowned.

"If you say so...champion."

"Shut up."

"So if this door is locked...how are we going to get in?" Fenris asked.

"Nero's a rogue, he can just pick the lock." Hawke said cheerfully, before turning to the man, "can't you?"

Nero snorted, "I was a slave, do you really think they would teach me how to pick locks?"

Hawke frowned, "I suppose..."

Sebastian sighed, "I'll do it. I've been picking locks since I was a child."

"That's not very princely." Nero told him with a knowing smirk.

Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Its not very brotherly either, shouldn't you believe that if the Maker wanted you to go in a room then he would leave it unlocked?"

"The Maker doesn't-"

"Stop bickering, we have a fight on our hands." Hawke interrupted.

Sebastian had already noticed and had his arrow ready and flying before Hawke finished his sentence, it hit one of the men running at them in the eyeball, killing him instantly.

"Did you see that shot?" He smirked, "this wont last long."

Nero rolled his eyes as he ran to meet a man with two daggers, he knocked his blades out of the way and plunged his new dagger into the man's throat. Pulling it out he pushed the man to the side and kicked another man with a longsword and a small shield in the side of his kneecap, sending him to his knees. With a growl he slit the man's throat.

He had been very disappointed when they had snuck onto the Tevinter boat before leaving Ostwick, only to find that his old dagger was gone. He didn't really like his new dagger, it was cheap but as of yet he hadn't found one that felt right. He felt like he was working extra hard to make up for the awkwardness of the thing. He was familiar with his old dagger, it was made specifically for him, and he wanted it back. He just wasn't willing to hunt Denarius down to get it.

He suddenly felt a presence behind him and swore as a shield smacked him in the shoulder, hard, sending him to the ground. He rolled and just as he stood up with his blade raised to take off the man's head an arrow appeared in his temple and he fell to the ground with a thump.

He blinked and heard, Sebastian say "I am good aren't I?" from a few feet away.

_"_Yes, you are good, but you don't have to brag about it you egotistical, fairy-tail worshiping maniac_._" He grumbled under his breath as he turned to attack a rogue that had his sights on Hawke.

Hawke was busy fighting a large man with a giant axe so he didn't see the man behind him coming, luckily Nero had reached him in time, although Hawke remained unaware. He was sweating as he blocked another blow with his shield and hissed as his arm rang with the impact. He tried to get the man in front of him to back off by smacking him with his shield, but he didn't so Hawke swung his sword, aiming at the man's legs.

Unfortunately he didn't connect before the man hit him in the forehead with the butt of his weapon. Stunned he stumbled backwards and at the last moment he saw the axe swinging for his head. So he ducked and plunged his blade upwards into the mans chest. He watched, pleased, as the axe fell to the ground with a clatter.

Looking around he was glad to see that the fight was over, it took a moment but finally he started to feel the pain on his forehead.

"Ooooooow." He whined.

* * *

a/n:

sorry for Sebastian fans out there. I liked him when I first got him in the game, hes so purdy and such, but hes kind of an ass. *shrugs*


	10. Chapter 10

A/n: feedback always a plus, this story hasn't gotten too boring has it?

* * *

Hawke rubbed his head as they waited for Sebastian to open the door. It didn't hurt so much anymore, but he could feel a bump forming. _I guess I get to see Anders tonight too_, he thought glumly.

He still liked Anders, to a point. The mage had become almost as insufferable as his Uncle, although for completely different reasons. A part of him was glad that his sister couldn't see him anymore, what with Gray Warden business and all. He wasn't sure what he would do if he had to watch his sister watch Anders become the hateful, tiresome person that he had become. Bethany was different now, sure, but he knew that she would worry and stress over it. Even so, he almost wished she were there, it was very lonely in his mansion since his mother...Sandal, Bodahn, and Orana weren't the greatest company.

"I miss my sister." He muttered.

"At least she seems to be enjoying what she's doing." Nero told him, in an attempt at reassurance.

He pouted.

"I don't think you would want to be harboring an apostate in this city, Hawke. At least as a Gray Warden she's safe in that regard." Fenris said.

"Except for the whole Darkspawn and deep road thing. I don't know how she can handle being in those roads all the time. It's so dark!"

"Maybe Grey Wardens have night vision." Nero jested.

Fenris chuckled and Hawke found himself staring at the elf, he looked away quickly. It was always a little difficult not to get distracted by how ridiculously good-looking the man was. He was pretty, although not in the way most people were. His prettiness was sharp, jagged and dangerous. The kind that made you want to be associated with it, even though you knew it would slice you open and make you bleed. He didn't wish any longer that he hadn't slept with him all those years ago, like he did when he first found out that Fenris had skipped town. It was in the past and as far as he knew neither of them really thought much about it anymore.

Sometimes though, he would remember the times before, when they flirted. Fenris was stubborn then...he still was, but not quite in the same way. Back then the elf seemed to analyze and study each word before he said it, so that every sentence he spoke was calculated and bland. He used to smile on occasion, but it was small and never quite seemed to reach his eyes. And the anger, it emanated from him like a blistering heat. He was still angry, of this Hawke had no doubt, but it didn't seem to be as...potent. Or maybe he just thought that because Fenris was different, he spoke more, he smiled more, he laughed. He even walked differently, he wasn't as tense as he once was and if someone bumped into him or touched him he wasn't likely to try and rip their head off.

There was a small period of time that he had been jealous of Nero's ability to crack into Fenris' tough shell. He would wonder what Nero was doing or saying that seemed to be making Fenris so happy, and why he didn't induce the same response. Then he realized that he was being stupid, when he had gone after Fenris it was selfish. He did not want to have a relationship with the elf, Fenris was too tense and their views and opinions were too different. Hawke had gotten what he wanted, and despite the damage it may have caused the elf, afterwords it did drive him to make sure that the person he was aiming to bed after _knew_ what he wanted.

But Nero seemed to have had a profound effect on Fenris, one that he never would have thought possible. Even after Nero and Fenris had broken up three yeas ago Fenris was still more lively and relaxed than he was when they had first met. It still baffled him even if it didn't bother him. He presumed at first that it had to do with thier similar past, but that didn't account for all of it. Maybe there was something between them that he was incapable of understanding. He hoped that he would be able to some day.

"Got it." Sebastian finally said, and pushed the door to the throne room open.

They didn't get very far inside before they were approached by three mages.

"So, even the divine fears us now." the only woman said with a smirk, "she should. Kill the spies!"

As she spoke a blue light enveloped her hands and she summoned several shades and two rage demons.

Hawke sighed, "why can't anything ever go smoothly in this damned city?"

"You would probably get bored." Fenris told him.

Hawke sighed, but agreed. He'd probably get fat too, Maker knew that the only workout he got was when he was killing things. He laughed out loud as he moved out of the way of a fireball and ended up having to smack a shade out of his way with his shield.

Unsurprisingly the shade didn't seem affected by this at all, but it did turn away from where it was facing Fenris to instead deal with him. Hawke smiled at it as Fenris' blade swung down on it, effectively splitting the shade down the middle before it dissolved into a cloud of smoke.

One of Sebastian's arrows whistled between them and hit one of the blood mages in the shoulder, effectively disrupting said mages incantation. He let another one fly, this one aimed for a kill, and it plunged into the mage's forehead.

"I could do this all day." He laughed.

Nero sighed loudly at the comment as he ducked and swung his leg out, causing the blood mage he was battling to fall to the ground. He slit his throat before turning to face the next one. He swore when he saw that she had erected a barrier around herself and instead he focused on a rage demon that seemed to suddenly have an interest in him.

Not liking to take the fiery monsters on too close he pulled the knife from his belt and threw it, it landed in what he considered the demon's cheek and cursed. He really needed to practice more.

Despite the knife in it's face the demon continued toward him and he readied his blades, trying to tell himself that he could kill this thing before it burnt him.

He didn't.

He held one blade in front of himself as a sort of shield as he swung the new one towards the demon. The dagger plunged into the thing's chest but that didn't seem to deter it. He figured out why when he pulled the blade free and he realized that the heat and fire from the rage demon had begun melting his dagger. Half of the blade was completely gone and the bit that was left was dripping metal onto the ground.

He stared at it for a moment too long and the Demon grabbed the wrist that was holding the blade in it's claw/hand. Nero screeched and, using his other dagger, which had never melted in a rage demons flesh before, he decapitated it. He shook his hand painfully as the demon turned into ashes and watched as Hawke approached the last remaining mage.

As he got closer Hawke realized that the mage was straining to retain her shield and all he had to do was wait until she became too tired to keep it up. He twirled his blade menacingly in his hand as he did so, watching as she realized that she was going to die and her magic would not be able to save her.

Finally the barrier flickered out and she forced herself to stop gasping and stared at him, defiance in her eyes, as he decapitated her. Out of the corner of his eye Hawke saw two more mages appear in the doorway and he turned to deal with them only to find them enveloped in smoke. After the smoke cleared he saw the two men fall to the ground and a rather pretty redheaded woman sheath her daggers.

As she approached them, she said, "the resolutionists, I might have known they would be a part of this."

Hawke didn't usually care for Orlesian accents, he always thought they sounded quite funny. But with her voice it was almost...enchanting. She also seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Are you sister Nightingale?" He asked.

"I am. Or you may call me Leliana. The divine has sent me to investigate the possibility of a rebellion here in Kirkwall. I have...some experience in unconventional situations." She said with a smirk.

Hawke gaped, "The Leliana? The one who accompanied the Hero of Ferelden to slay the Archdemon?"

"Ah. I see it will be harder to remain anonymous so near the Fereldan border. Yes I knew the Hero of Ferelden, perhaps you have heard the songs I wrote of our time together."

"Actually, he's my cousin."

"Oh, I did not realize."

Hawke chuckled, "its alright, I've never actually met him."

Leliana smiled sweetly at him, "that...was many years ago. I am working for the Divine now. In Orlais. I had not thought to return to this part of Thedas."

"Life is full of unexpected surprises. You said something about resolutionists? Who are they?"

"An offshoot of a fraternity within the Circle of Magi. There have always been factions that support freedom from the Chantry and abolition of the circle. We have...tolerated them. But the resolutionists have become violent. They are likely behind the unrest here."

"Maybe..." Hawke said, thinking of Anders, he decided to change the subject " you know, I hardly imagined the Divine's secret agent looking like you."

She chuckled, "that is why I am effective. The divine has long suspected that Kirkwall's problems were spurred by an outside group. This attack proves she is right."

Hawke frowned, "are you saying you set this whole thing up, you knew they would attack?"

"I let word slip that an agent of the Divine was coming to investigate the mage troubles. It is how they chose to react, which condemns them."

"Will the Divine send soldiers?"

"Divine Justinia takes the situation here very seriously. She believes it is the worst threat to Thedas since the Qunari invaded."

"That's a little dramatic." Nero said.

Sebastian frowned, "a handful of apostates? How can that possibly-?"

"The whole word is watching Kirkwall. If it falls to magic, none of us are safe."

"It really isn't that bad." Hawke told her.

She shook her head, "tell Elthina to leave. There is refuge for her at the Grand Cathedral in Orlais. She will not be safe here."

As she was walking away Hawke called out, "that's it? You could have said that in a letter!"

She ignored him.

"These mages are out of control." Sebastian spat.

"They always are." Fenris drawled.

...

They decided to head to Anders' clinic before returning to the Chantry. Nero's wrist was blistering and Hawke's headache was getting worse, Sebastian agreed, but only because he wanted Hawke to return to Elthina with him - as she had asked both of them to see the sister. Fenris came along begrudgingly, he didn't look forward to seeing the mage, but he wanted to see to Nero's injuries.

Sebastian knocked on the door to the clinic and Nero considered taking his key out to let them in but he didn't think Anders would appreciate that. Their friendship might have turned to shit but he still respected the man's privacy. He'd stab the mage himself though, if he refused to heal them. He could hardly thing straight, the pain in his wrist was so intense.

"I don't think you're supposed to touch burns." Fenris muttered to him.

He scowled at the elf, "I'm trying not to but my hand keeps going to it as though it thinks it'll help."

Suddenly the clinic door opened and Anders blinked at them, confused.

"What?" He asked.

Hawke pointed to his head, "I need healing."

Anders frowned, "I don't think I can fix your psychosis, Hawke."

Hawke sighed and pushed his way into the clinic, summarizing what they had been up to despite a scowl he received from Sebastian. "anyway, I got hit on the head by the opposite end of an axe and my head hurts something fierce. Also Nero has a burn."

"A burn, he says, like its no big deal." Nero muttered, "it fucking hurts Anders," He held his hand out to the mage, "fix me?" he pouted.

Anders sighed his irritation but called upon his healing magic anyway.

"You seem very angry." Sebastian observed.

Anders rolled his eyes, "and here I thought the Chantry was against mind-reading."

"Did something happen to you in the Circle? I understand there were problems in Ferelden some years ago..."

"Are you saying a mage can only be unhappy in the Circle if demons were involved?" he snapped, then sighed heavily before continuing "no, it's not about Uldred. It's not about being beaten or raped by a templar— that does happen, but I've been fortunate. It' s a larger principle: the freedom every man, woman, and child born in Thedas have as a natural right."

"You were given to the Circle. I was given to the Chantry. Hawke was driven away from home by the Darkspawn. Fenris and Nero are still pursued by people that claim to own them. None of us are free." He told him.

"The maker is benevolent indeed," Anders said sarcastically before changing the subject "how can you have so much faith? Does nothing bother you?

Sebastian scowled, "you're bothering me."

"You came here, to my home, remember." Anders reminded him before returning to his point "the Maker left us to our own devices generations ago. He's never going to step back in, start listening to our prayers again. He's gone. Doesn't that bother you?" he finished off Nero's wrist and turned to heal the bump forming on Hawke's forehead.

"He's a merciful lord. He could have destroyed our world when we failed Him, but instead He gave us a chance at redemption. Should we not be joyful?"

"Didn't you just say none of us are free? What kind of a redemption is that?"

"Oh, good lord."

Anders pulled his hand away from Hawke and asked, "better?"

Hawke smiled at him sweetly, and for a moment Anders was reminded of Bethany. He frowned and turned away to check Nero's wrist. He had not thought of Bethany in a long time, and had stopped replying to her letters a year and a half ago till she stopped sending them. He did not want her to be associated with what he needed to do, it would not be good for her reputation.

"You've made no secret of your intent to lead the mages here in revolution. I can't help but wonder if you weren't behind the attack tonight." Sebastian pointed out.

"Well, I've tried not to shout it from the rooftops. You've just been around when I talk with my friends." he paused. "If I was behind the attack, it wouldn't have failed...there also wouldn't have been demons."

"Look at that, Hawke. He just admitted that he would have killed you." Sebastian smirked.

"That is not what I meant. I didn't even hear anything about this 'agent of the divine' coming to Kirkwall, so I had nothing to do with it."

"Well, in the event you ever get crazy ideas, and as we have mutual friends—who for some reason don't want you to get hurt—let me tell you this: If you go forward with this revolt, the Chantry will bring its full might to bear. They will kill you."

"Andraste was killed. That doesn't mean she failed."

"Do not compare yourself to Andraste." Sebastian hissed.

Anders was about to respond when Hawke interrupted him, "we should probably go back to the Chantry now, Elthina will want to know what happened."

"Yes. She makes for much better company." Sebastian said, shooting a dirty look at the mage.

The mention of the Grand Cleric in addition to the look made Anders outright angry.

"How can you stand up for her?" He demanded to know

"Who?" Sebastian asked

"That doddering old biddy of a Grand Cleric." He replied, disgust evident in his voice

"How dare you!" Sebastian snapped, "Elthina is everything a grand cleric should be. She's holy, wise—"

"Spineless... hesitant. She's clay in Meredith's hands."

"In the face of danger, sometimes the bravest thing is to stand back and trust that the Maker will see justice done."

Anders laughed in his face, "well if doing nothing sums up your religion, then Elthina is perfect. Personally, I'd prefer a Chantry that favors action over sloth."

"Alright, time to go, chop chop." Hawke said, ushering the others out the door, "have a good one Anders, thanks for the help. Here," he tossed the man a few sovereigns, "buy something to eat, you're too skinny."

Anders held the sovereigns in his fist, and glared at the door as it shut. Sebastian was so ignorant, and blindly devotional and it made him sick with anger. He couldn't understand how anybody put up with it. With a snarl he tossed the sovereigns at the door and turned towards his desk, with the intention of turning his rage towards something useful. He had plans and he needed to work out the kinks.

...

Back at the Chantry Hawke told Grand Cleric Elthina what had happened.

"Sister Nightingale says you must leave Kirkwall."

Elthina seemed shocked, "what?"

"You were right. The Divine will be taking action against Kirkwall, though the sister didn't say what. You must take the holy relics from the Chantry and leave for safety." Sebastian pleaded.

"Sebastian! I am surprised at you. Andraste would not thank me for saving a few dusty finger bones and my own skin at the cost of people's lives."

"Wait a second." Hawke interrupted, "you keep dead people here?"

"The Kirkwall Chantry has guarded the remains of the martyr Deverina for eight hundred years. They must be protected." Sebastian told him.

"When I became Grand Cleric, I took a vow to the people of Kirkwall and the Free Marches. I will not leave my flock." Elthina said sternly.

"Would you let yourself die?" Sebastian asked sadly.

"'There is no greater devotion than to lay one's life at the Maker's feet. There is no better death than to take the blow for another.'" Elthina said.

"You don't hear that one quoted very often, do you?" Nero said.

Once again, Sebastian ignored him, "please, your grace. Sister Nightingale thinks there will be war."

"Then I must make peace. Settle yourself, Sebastian. I'm in no personal danger. I am Grand Cleric - who would dare attack me?"

"If you will not shield yourself, then I will be your shield. You will come through this safely, by the maker's name, I swear it." Sebastian declared.


	11. Chapter 11

"So when do I get the grand tour?" Nero asked Isabela. The were seated beside each other in Varric's suite. Hawke, Fenris, Aveline, Varric (of course) and for some reason Anders were there as well. The mage hadn't spoken much, and the rest of them were doing their best to ignore his brooding presence. Although this didn't stop Hawke and Varric from speculating quietly in the corner as to why the healer was there.

"Haven't you already? Oh, you must mean the ship." Isabela said with a chuckle.

Nero rolled his eyes, "yes, I mean the ship."

"Its not fit to be seen. Castillon had an obsession with mustard colored satin." she said, with disgust.

Nero laughed and Fenris smiled into his drink from across the table. He greatly enjoyed the sound of Nero's laughter, even though the revelation had made him feel like a tool. It had been a month since the situation with Denarius, and although he still wished that Nero hadn't gone after him and risked his own life, he was sort of glad that he had. Things seemed to be working out well between them again, it felt like the last three years didn't even happen. He would not be so careless with it this time, not now that he knew how much it hurt to lose it.

For some reason that even he could not comprehend he had spoken to Sebastian about how he felt. Sebastian had told him he was in love, and although he scoffed at the idea he knew that the bastard was right. He scoffed at it even now. _Me, in love? pfft_. But there was no better term to name what he felt for Nero, it was just that the term was so childish he couldn't say it. And it was so often used to label feelings that it was not, how many times had someone said 'I love you' to someone they had just met? He wasn't even sure if Nero would appreciate hearing it. He believed the other man when he said that needed him and had missed him, but a part of Fenris...doubted it. It was a small part, really, but he worried that that small part would fester like an infected wound and that it would eventually grow to be so large that it enveloped everything else.

He didn't understand it, and he was unwilling to talk about it, so he suppressed it and hoped that it would go away. He didn't like being skeptical of everything Nero said to him, but he figured it was the price of what he did years ago. Nero had said then that he was too paranoid to be with him, Fenris found it ironic that now _he_ was paranoid. A part of him wondered if maybe he just believed it was too good to be true and he was looking for something to warn him of impending doom.

"Do you feel like a citizen, Fenris?" Aveline said suddenly, disrupting his thoughts.

"Excuse me?"

"You've been in Kirkwall as long as I have." she said, "Does it feel like home?"

Fenris thought about this for a moment, "it feels. That itself has been a surprise."

Aveline gave him a knowing smile, "I think I know what you mean."

He nodded and watched as Nero left to find out what was taking Corff so long, they had ordered their breakfast an hour ago, and Aveline found herself scrutinizing the elf's face.

"You seem happy." she told him.

"Hmm?"

"Since we've gotten back from Ostwick. You both seem, well, happy."

"I suppose I am." he said quietly.

"Good...when you two weren't...getting along...he was miserable. I think he hid it fairly well, but I could tell. I'm glad that you two are together again."

"And if you hurt him again, I'll kill you." Anders said from where he was seated at the end of the table. It was the first thing he had said since he sat down, he wasn't even going to eat except that Nero ordered him ham and eggs.

"Is that so?" Fenris practically snarled, "I wasn't aware you cared a fig about Nero anymore."

"I've been busy, that doesn't mean I don't still worry about my friends and their safety." Anders scowled.

"Busy plotting the destruction of the city, you mean?"

"Busy working to free templar slaves, something you should feel some sympathy towards."

"I would, if these so called 'templar slaves' weren't capable of turning into demons or blowing up buildings as they see fit."

"When has a mage ever blown up a building?"

"I'm sure it's happened."

"Why are you so-"

"Boys!" Isabela interrupted, "shut up or I'll strip you naked and make you wrestle in oil."

"I find myself wondering," Hawke said with a smirk, leaning his elbows on the table, "would you be joining them?"

"I don't know, I would miss the view." she winked.

He sat back with a forced sigh, "how disappointing"

Isabela furrowed her brow, "what-"

"Apparently Corff is busy this morning and has failed to bring us our food due to lack of staff. So here it is." Nero said from where he stood in the doorway, a large tray with six plates on it. He waited for the table to be relatively cleared before setting it down.

"Thank the Maker, I'm starving." Hawke said as he grabbed his plate and plopped it down in front of himself.

Nero grabbed his own plate last and it wasn't until he sat down to eat that he noticed Anders was playing with the food on his plate, but hadn't eaten anything yet. He scowled, and kicked him gently in the shin.

"Eat." He said darkly.

Anders frowned but did as he was told. It was difficult to eat now, since Justice had become a stronger presence in his mind he was always stressed and nervous. He was often too high-strung to eat, the very idea made him nauseous. But he needed Nero's help, and if that meant eating breakfast to convince him that he was still the same person he used to be, then he would force the damned food down.

He found himself wondering why he didn't feel bad for putting on a show to get his friends help. And he was going to lie...shouldn't that bother him?

'_It needs to be done, do not falter now.'_ Justice told him.

_I'm not, I just find it peculiar is all..._

_'It is if no concern.'_

_Alright...do you think Fenris knows something?_

_'How could the elf know anything? We have not spoken of our plans and have not put them to paper' _Justice assured him_._

_I know, its just-_

_'If he does somehow know, then he has not mentioned it to anyone. If he plans to deal with it himself we will destroy him. He will not get in the way._'

Suddenly his thoughts were cut off as a dwarf ran into the room and bent over to catch his breath, when he could breath again he said "Messere Hawke! Ugh, why you come to these places I may never know."

"Bodahn, what a surprise. What brings you here?" Hawke said, stunned, he hadn't even been sure before that the dwarf even knew where Lowtown was, much less the Hanged Man.

"A templar arrived at the estate, looking for you Messere. He gave me a letter to pass on to you, it has seal of the Knight Commander on it! I thought you should receive it as soon as possible." Bodahn explained, obviously proud of his initiative.

"Oh, well, uh...thank you, Bodahn." Hawke said as he rose to take the letter from the dwarf, "if you want to you should take the day off and relax. I've heard you saying Sandal needs new shoes."

"Oh, thank you, Messere. Maybe I will. Try not to get into any trouble."

"I never do." Hawke muttered as the dwarf left just as quickly as he arrived.

He looked at the letter curiously as he sat back down, wondering what could possibly drive that crazy woman to say something to _him_.

With a look of confusion on his face he opened the letter, only to read:

Champion,

I require your assistance in a matter of great urgency. Please report to the Templar Hall in the Gallows at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Knight-Commander Meredith

He whistled when he was done reading and tossed the letter on the table. Varric snatched it up almost before it hit the wood and began reading.

"What does she want?" Anders basically grumbled

"Apparently, there is a matter of 'great urgency' that she needs my assistance dealing with." Hawke chuckled.

"Are you going to go?"

"Why not? I might as well find out what it is that she wants _before _I tell her to go fuck herself."

...

"You don't really think bringing Anders into the same room as Meredith is a good idea, do you, Hawke?" Fenris muttered as they entered the Gallows.

Hawke winced, "I hadn't thought that far ahead. But you're right."

"What is your plan then?"

"Uhh..."

"Oh for the sake of the maker." Nero muttered, "Anders, come with me, I've got to buy a new blade."

Anders scowled, "I'm not stupid, I do realize what your doing."

"I know, but the pretenses are for show, do play along." Nero smiled and then smacked his hand against Hawke's chest then opened it so that the palm was up. Then he waited.

Hawke raised an eyebrow at him, "what?"

Nero pouted, "I'm poor!"

"You have got to be kidding me." Hawke sighed but fished a couple of sovereigns out of his purse and gave it to the man.

Nero smiled at him then watched everyone but Anders leave to head inside the Gallows.

"If I wanted to kill her I wouldn't need Hawke to take me in there to do it." Anders told him.

"I know, but at least I got some coin out of it. And I _do_ have to get a new blade."

"You are a terrible person." Anders told him, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Pfft."

Nero turned to make his way to the weapons merchant when he felt Anders' hand on his shoulder, "wait," the mage said, "I wanted to talk to you."

Nero raised an eyebrow, but stayed, "what is it?"

"I'm going to be trying something, and I thought you might want to be part of it. I was wrong, what I did with Justice was unnatural. It shouldn't have happened."

"Oh." was all Nero could say, he was quite surprised to hear Anders admit to his mistake.

"I can't help mages like this. Not while I am everything templars fear about magic. I need to be free of this curse."

"So...is this your way of asking me to try my idea?"

"No, no offense, but there isn't any reason to believe it wouldn't cause permanent damage to either of us. I've spent the past three years researching the methods of Tevinter magisters."

"uhh..." Nero said skeptically.

"No, not like that. They're the only ones that have ever sought to reverse spirit possession, not just behead the victims. I believe I have a formula for a potion than can separate Justice and Me. Without killing either."

"And there is no blood magic involved."

"There was originally, but I managed to find a way around it." Anders assured him.

"Well, that's pretty exciting then." Nero smiled, "what did you need my help with?"

Anders smiled as well, the first one Nero had seen from the mage in a very, very long time "I knew you would understand, even if..."

"What?" Nero asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. I've gathered most of what I need, but there are some...outlandish ingredients I was hoping you'd help me collect. A powder the Tevinters call 'sela petrae,' and a small amount of drakestone."

Nero scowled, he could tell Anders was withholding information, "what aren't you telling me?"

"Oh, many things I'm sure. Did I tell you about the dream I had where the Grand Cleric was completely naked except for her miter? And there was this giant, glowing cheese wheel..."

"Okay, I get it, your not going to tell me." Nero sighed, "I'll still help you, for the sake of whatever friendship we have left."

...

"Apparently phylacteries were destroyed and several mages took the opportunity to escape. She wants me to help her find the last three." Hawke told them as he approached where Anders and Nero were sitting, waiting for them to return. Nero twirled his new dagger in his hand, it was better quality than the last one, but it still didn't feel quite right. It was better though.

Anders was surprised by what Hawke told them, he didn't think there was anybody left in the gallows that was that brave or daring. So he asked how it happened.

"Apparently some of the templars orchestrated the escape. See, their not all bad Anders." Hawke smiled.

"But you intend to help her?"

"She said that she was asking me to deal with the fugitives so that I could see for myself what Templars deal with every day...look I didn't tell her I would help, but I feel like I should look into it." Hawke tried to explain.

"I'm coming with you, then, somebody has to stand for the mages so they aren't needlessly slaughtered." Anders scowled.

"Makers breath.." Hawke muttered in exasperation before turning to speak to the group. "Look, we should split up and find out where the mages might be before attempting to contact them, we could meet at the Hanged Man tonight."

"I'll go to the De Launcet's" Aveline said, "I'm...familiar with them."

"I could try the Alienage," Varric offered, "if Nyssa doesn't want to talk to me maybe she'll be willing to talk to Merrill."

"Sounds good," Hawke said, and turned to clap Anders on the back, "we get to go to Darktown!"

"Wonderful." Anders frowned.

A/N: so apparently at some point I screwed up and called the nobleman who had kidnapped Nero in the previous act De Launcet...and now im not completely sure that I had made that character a part of the De Launcet family or if I had really meant him to be a part of the De Monteford family...im all confused. I'll have to look into it. So just pretend that if the man who was responsible for Nero's abduction was a De Launcet that he had a little shit fit when Aveline said that she would talk to the De Launcet family.


	12. Chapter 12

"So why are we all going to Darktown when Aveline and Varric are looking into their people by themselves?" Nero asked. He was of course referring to the fact that he Fenris, Anders, Hawke and Isabela were going through Darktown, looking for the apostate's family.

"Because Darktown is dangerous?" Isabela offered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"So is any one of us on our own."

"You didn't have to come," Hawke told him, "but I do like traveling with a posse. It helps keep the women off of me."

"Ah yes, I'm ever so glad to assist you with that." Nero said with a roll of his eyes.

"Also she appears to have killed several of her pursuers, so she's sort of dangerous. Hold on, this is where she was supposed to be living, right? I'm gonna ask these kids if they know anything about Evelina." Hawke said, motioning for them to stop before he slowly approached two young boys.

As he approached the younger, red-headed boy hid behind the older one, who said "we got nothing here you'd want. Get back to Hightown and leave us alone!"

"You're a little young for a blood mage, and I thought Evelina was a girls name." Hawke joked.

"I'm not Evelina. I'm Walter. Evelina was our...friend. She was our mother. Evelina found us when the darkspawn came, when our parents died. She made sure we got to Kirkwall safely."

"I miss her" the redheaded boy said from behind Walter.

"But when she went to join the Circle here, they called her apostate for leaving the tower in Ferelden. They locked her up." Walter told them sadly.

"Didn't she want to be free, with you?" Hawke asked.

"She didn't want us to be stuck in Darktown. She wanted to give us a real life... she thought the circle would help her, but they just locked her away."

"Do the templars know your here?"

"They don't care, they only want Evelina."

Growing concerned, Hawke asked "don't you have any other family?"

"Everyone died in the blight. Evelina kept picking us up, new children every day, every one she could save."

"She sounds like a good woman," Anders said, "what did the circle do to make her turn to blood magic?"

Walter shook his head, "I don't know."

"If you tell me where Evelina is, I'll try my best to help her. You can trust me." Hawke said gently

"No one can help her," Walter replied sadly

"The templars made Evelina angry." the younger boy suddenly said, coming out of hiding, "they made her change... It wasn't her fault! When it was over she was ashamed. She ran into the tunnels and hid."

"Shut up cricket, don't tell them that." Walter chided, smacking the boy upside the head

"Evelina's in the sewer tunnels?" Hawke asked.

"You can't go there, she'll know we told you and she'll be angry at us!" Walter begged.

"Angry? I didn't like when she got angry. We have to hide!" Cricket said before running off. Walter chased after him.

"Well...shit." Isabela said after a few moments.

"I hate the blighted sewers." Hawke grumbled.

"If we're going to go after her we should probably go now." Anders suggested, "She might be heading deeper into them, and they can get...confusing."

"Great. I wore my good clothes today, you know." Fenris muttered.

Hawke sighed, "well, clothes were meant to be washed, right? Let's go get dirty."

...

"Isabela, the shit offsets your boots quite nicely. So sexy." Hawke chuckled.

"Ugh, what is wrong with you?" Isabela asked.

"What? I'm just trying to keep the mood chipper." Hawke smiled.

"I'm starting to think that there is a hole in my boot," Nero grimaced, "I can feel things squishing around in there that I would rather not think about."

"At least you're wearing boots." Fenris grumbled.

Hawke laughed, "I always said there was something wrong with elves."

Fenris directed his scowl at Hawke, "most elves don't go lollygagging around sewers after apostate blood mages."

"Touche."

"I would hardly call this lollygagging."Anders said

"Well you should be quite comfortable with this, shouldn't you?" Fenris snapped, "you do live in the gutters of this despicable city."

"If you hate it so much, then why are you still here?" Anders demanded to know.

"I have my reasons."

"I"m sure Nero would leave with you if you asked nicely." Anders told him.

"Would you two stop?" Isabela asked, "I'm surrounded by enough shit, I don't need to hear it spewing from your mouths."

It had been two hours since they first descended into the tunnels, and they had not seen any sign of Evelina yet. It was far past the time that they had grown tired of smell and the...muck.

"Thank the maker," Hawke said as he stepped onto ground that was _not_ wet.

"I think we're in another part of the mining tunnels." Anders observed. It seemed the most realistic conclusion, as the area they found themselves in resembled Darktown more than it resembled the actual Sewers. It was dry and brown, and there were even stairs leading to higher ground to their left.

"I think we're in the right place." Fenris grumbled as several shades and a rage demon appeared in front of the group.

Nero eyed the rage demon warily, thinking of how he lost his last dagger "oh, great."

With an exaggerated sigh he jumped to action, kicking some of the dirt up in front of one of the shades so that he could fall into a roll and jump up behind it unseen. He plunged his daggers into its back and quickly pulled them free so that he could face another one.

He barely had time to jump back as the shade swiped it's claws at him, the shade began another swipe but this time Nero feigned to the side and swung one of his daggers to take off its arm. The demon made an unnatural sound that he interpreted as a scream and he swung his blade so that it sliced into it's chest. The shade disappeared in a gust of smoke moments later.

And then he found himself facing the rage demon. Just as he had dreaded. He groaned but readied his blades anyway, waiting for the inevitable fight and burns he would receive from it. He was pleasantly surprised when the demon froze in a layer of ice mid-lunge and turned his head to see Anders smiling at him from a few feet away. He smiled back and stabbed the demon in the chest with enough ferocity that he hoped the last rage demon he had fought felt it.

"This isn't going to be an easy 'Hey, what are you up to Evelina? D'you want to go back to the circle?' type of deal is it?" Hawke asked no one in particular when the battle was over.

No one responded as they continued up the stairs and through the tunnels. The ended up having to avoid traps that set streams of fire shooting from the walls and floor, and had to face more demons and shades but they made quick work of it. No one spoke again until they rounded a corner into a large open room, only to find Cricket and Walter, the children they had spoken to earlier, standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Hawke asked as he approached them

"I...I thought if we warned her about you, she wouldn't be angry. But then she..." Walter told them nervously.

"Uh, oh." Isabela said with a smirk as she twirled her daggers.

Suddenly it got eerily quiet and they heard a woman's voice call out from somewhere behind them "Walter..."

Terror seemed to grip Walter and he said, "She's coming, run!"

He turned to run in the direction they had come, but he didn't get very far before he ran right into Evelina.

"There you are." She smiled, "don't run from me, Walter. You know those are the rules."

"Funny...in my house we always felt running away from violent madwomen was a good thing." Hawke said dryly.

"These are my children." Evelina told him. "you and your kind abandoned them. You're Ferelden, like us, but you feast on sweetmeats while your people starve in the Undercity." she said as she approached them. Her voice began to change as she spoke and her body began to contort in unnatural ways, till she was speaking in a malevolent voice and her body was that of an abomination, "I spit on you traitor, and on the pathetic templars that sent you. Kirkwall should be mine! Then my children will have a whole city to play in."

Several more shades and demons appeared to help with the battle. Fenris jumped forward to attack the abomination...Evelina, not Anders, but the creature performed a rock shield spell and his sword bounced off it's shoulder with a painful _clank_. He hissed but readied his sword for another blow, he had to change his tactic when the abomination used its rock-covered arm to swing at him, clearly intending to bash in his skull.

He deflected the blow and kicked the abomination away. It shot a bolt of lightening at him, and he jumped to the side just in time. It shot another spell at him, one that was intended to freeze him in place with more rock, but he skirted around the creature before he was caught in it.

He swore as his blade bounced off of the rock armor, barely registering that he managed to chip a piece of the rock off. He was quickly growing irritated. Most abominations did not seem to make use of the mages arsenal of magic once the possession was complete, but this one was, and he despised it. Magic was a cheap way to win a fight, and he hated having to do battle against it.

Magic seemed to have most of its uses long ranged, but a mage wasn't completely useless in close proximity. Especially if said mage had used it's powers to summon one of these infernal magical shields. And barriers, oh those were grating on the nerves, and a stupid tactical decision. He would never understand why a mage would use up all of their power to keep a shield erected instead of trying to run away as their mercenaries or whoever died around them. He would catch them even if they ran, sure, but that wasn't the point.

He began to chip away laboriously at the rock armor and avoiding the spells that were shot at him. He knew he was doing some damage, he could sense the magic upholding the rock armor growing weak. That was another thing he hated about fighting mages. He could feel every spell they cast like a pulse through his lyrium burns, and sustained spells throbbed. It was slightly painful, a sort of irritating sting that he felt all along his body. Nero had commented once that he seemed more vicious when he fought mages, he had laughed and asked if that really surprised him. But the truth was the throbbing in his markings made him more angry, which in turn made him more ferocious during a fight.

Denarius had loved this affect on him, Fenris recalled, he said it made him more of a threat to other magisters. Which he suppose it did, but Denarius never seemed to realize that it also made him more of a threat to him. Nero was right, he should have fought the bastard...it just...when he thought about fighting Denarius all he could recall was the fear that he used to feel when he faced the magister. He remembered cowering under his critical gaze. Even after all these years of freedom the image of swinging his sword at his former master just seemed like a failure waiting to happen. He worried about growing too fearful to finish the job before he could complete it.

Fenris scowled, why the void was he thinking about these things now? Since when did he think when he was fighting a mage? He narrowed his eyes in irritation at himself, he would worry about it later, right now...

Right now there was a dagger sliding across one of the few areas on the abomination that was exposed and he couldn't get to very easily with his longsword; namely, the throat. He watched, semi-deflated as the mangled body fell to the ground to reveal Nero with a splash of blood on his cheek and a serious expression on his face.

Fenris frowned at him, "I _was_ going to kill it."

Nero smirked, "I grew impatient," then his expression changed to one of concern, "...and you were distracted."

"How did you-"

Nero shrugged, "you were thinking hard, and not about how best to kill the abomination, I could just...tell."

Fenris' frown deepened and he looked away, not even Denarius cold read him that well...or maybe now he was just more...expressive? _Fucking Denarius_, "it's the stress of _him_ returning, It's ...distracting."

Nero took a step towards him, "I know you haven't really been sleeping..."he glanced over to where Hawke was talking to the boys, Evelina's kids, and sighed "we'll talk about this later." he said, motioning towards the group.

Fenris nodded and they joined the others.

"I don't understand. Evelina loved us. She saved us. Why would she try to hurt us now?" Walter asked, shock making his voice shake.

"Evelina would never hurt you, child. That was a demon. Remember her as she was... a brave, kind, loving woman." Hawke told him.

"I...I'll try" Walter told him.

"This isn't going to stop." Anders suddenly said, "the templars force our hand. They make us take drastic measures, just to be free."

"Like Evelina did." Walter said hopefully, glad to have someone to blame for the days horrific events.

"Exactly." Anders said triumphantly.

"I just don't know what we'll do now." Walter said sadly.

Hawke dug into his purse and took out 5 gold sovereigns, "take this and use it wisely." he told the boy.

Walter gaped at the money in his hand for a long time before stammering out, "th-thank you, Messere." He turned to Cricket, "I should go buy some food for the others. They've been hungry for a long time."

They followed the boys out of the tunnel until they were back in Darktown, where Isabela sighed dramatically, "That was a waste, you know."

"What was?" Hawke asked.

"Five gold, FIVE gold! Do you realize how much ale and sex that could get you?" She demanded to know.

Hawke laughed, "I have lots more than five gold, Isabela, and I felt bad for the kid."

"I wouldn't suggest saying that too loudly around here, Hawke." Fenris told him quietly.

Hawke snorted, "as if most of these people don't recognize me as that Ferelden bastard that snaked his way into Hightown. I think they know, Fenris."

Fenris sighed, but didn't push the matter further.


	13. Chapter 13

They arrived at the Hanged Man just after night fell only to find Aveline sitting in a corner by the door with Varric looking painfully bored and unimpressed.

"Hawke," Aveline said when she saw him, "thank the Maker. If I have to see this kid make an ass out of himself one more time..."

Hawke sat down beside her with a thump. "Whats that?"

She wrinkled her nose and move further down the bench, away from him, "where in the void have you been? You stink!"

"We found Evelina, in the sewers, it was quite the experience. So who are you watching?"

"Well, Emile De Launcet appears to be trying to get laid." Varric chuckled.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I couldn't make this shit up."

"How come you haven't done anything with him?" Hawke asked.

"You were asked to collect them, I figured so long as he stayed here we would just wait for you to show up." Aveline told him.

"That seems as though its against your better nature." Hawke teased.

"It is." she said sourly.

"Alright, lets go talk to this bastard. Which one is he?"

"He's the one that's drinking alone at that table." Varric told him, pointing.

"Alright."

Aveline and Varric stayed at the table while the rest of them approached the mage.

"Emile De Launcet?" Hawke asked quietly.

Emile jumped and sat up straight, before looking at him blearily.

"Hey how did you know my name, did Nella tell you? I gave her my Launcet signet ring in exchange for a kiss, and tonight, she's going to make me a man!' He told him with a large smile on his face.

"This is what lack of sex does to a person. I can only watch in horror." Isabela told them.

"He's lived in the circle all his life. He can't function in the real world." Anders said sadly.

"And yet, you've been advocating for their freedom?" Fenris questioned.

"Not all mages are idiots." Anders snapped at him

If Emile heard them he ignored them, "round of drinks on me?" he asked, "I am Emile, as you know...and you are?""

"Feeling very sorry for you." Hawke said with a shake of his head. "I'm also helping the templars hunt a mage named Emile de Launcet. And here you are!"

"Oh buggery!" Emile said, standing up from his seat, "I know what this is about. I...I'm not a blood mage, all right? I, uh, started that rumor because...because I thought it would make me sound dangerous and...suave".

"Do you have a death wish? You grew up in the Circle, you know what the templars do to blood mages!" Anders said incredulously.

"I've only told people in the tavern. And only women! You don't understand. I've been in the circle since I was six. Six! For twenty years I was locked up. Never had a real drink, or ...or cooked something for myself. Never stood in the rain, or kissed a girl..."

"The Ferelden Circle's more fun." Anders chuckled, "everyone was kissing everyone. Though that was before the abominations."

"Oh Anders, I knew you were a slag." Isabela teased.

"'Was', Isabela, 'was'" Anders smiled, remembering when his only concerns were who to bed and how to get out of the tower. How things changed.

"I just wanted to live a little." Emile sighed, "if you are going to kill me, do it. I would rather die drunk."

Hawke thought for a moment, "Emile wants to live a little...why don't you give him a hand, Isabela?"

"You don't mean...no. No! He's revolting! I do just fine whoring myself out without your help, thanks." She told him crossly.

Hawke chuckled before turning back to Emile. "Did you really escape the Circle so you could kiss a girl?"

"Well, not just that. I've read so much about the other things you can do with girls.."

"Oh maker, this is the most awkward-I'm getting a drink." Nero suddenly said, heading to the bar.

"I'll join you." Isabela trailed after him.

When they were gone Fenris voiced his opinion, "This is an act. The mage makes himself out to be harmless."

"No, I think he's really that pathetic." Anders told him.

"You can't run, Emile. The Templars will find you eventually." Hawke told him.

"I...I'll make you a deal, all right? Give me just one night, One night! One of the tavern girls, Nella, agreed to lie with me. I even paid for a room. Please, let me have this. You can take me back in chains after." Emile begged.

Hawke raised an eyebrow, amazed at how far this man would go to get laid, "would you really risk your life to be with her? She's not even special to you."

"She's not too ugly." Emile said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"The templars may come while you're with her, and believe me, they wont ask questions before they run you through."

Emile lowered his head sadly, "maybe your right. Maybe it isn't worth it." he turned to look at Nella sadly, only to see her snuggling up to another patron and sighed, "you win. I'll go back to the circle. This was a stupid idea from the beginning." he muttered, heading for the door.

Aveline approached Hawke as he began to follow the mage, "maybe I should take him back you, well, you need a damned bath. And Varric has a lead on the third apostate."

Hawke sighed, "today is turning into a long one. How have the templars failed to capture these people? It's going pretty well for me. Thanks for your help Aveline."

...

"So, he's supposed to return to Nyssa tonight?" Anders asked Hawke.

"Apparently so, hopefully we're not too late."

"Hopefully the apostate didn't do anything stupid, you mean." Fenris corrected.

"You know, I'm never quite certain whether you are referring to me or someone else when you say 'apostate'" Anders scowled at the elf.

"I'm referring to this Huon, there is no doubt that you will do something stupid."

"So help me..."

"What are the chances _that_ is Huon?" Nero asked.

They were descending the stairs in the Alienage and he was referring, of course, to the elf with a staff strapped to his back, who was currently speaking to another elf, presumably Nyssa.

"Huon." Nyssa said, her voice shaking, betraying her fear.

He spread his arms and she strode to him, whimpering when he embraced her.

"Hush, love. Don't be afraid." He said, "Your blood will bring new life to our people."

With that he stabbed her with a knife in the stomach and lowered her gently to the ground before resting on his knees and saying, "she was so beautiful."

"Someday I would like to go one week without meeting an insane mage. Just one week." Hawke said.

"I am a visionary." Huon told them, " I have seen our destiny. I know what fate holds for the elves. The humans keep us down because they're afraid of the magic within us. Look at the magic Nyssa held inside her. She was just afraid to use it."

"It's always the same. Always." Fenris said as he drew his sword.

Huon stood and faced them, his hands glowed red from the blood coming from Nyssa and he summoned several shades.

Nero smiled and glanced at the large tree behind them, it had been quite some time since he had called upon the vhenadahl, but it was always eager to listen when he called for it. He figured it might have a bit to do with the part of him that was elvish, or maybe the tree just thought he was awesome.

When he reached out for it's aid the fight ended quickly, several of the vhenadahl's roots erupted from the ground to impale the shades, but most of the damage was done by branches which quickly untangled themselves from the great tree's foliage and set about wrapping themselves around several of the enemy, particularly Huon.

The blood mage screamed in frustration as his limps were encircled but it was cut off short as a rather large branch penetrated through his chest. As soon as Huon died any remaining shades disappeared, their anchor to this realm cut off.

Nero watched with interest as this happened, he had never before altered the flow of the river so much that he had manipulated the actual _tree_. He had wished, on several occasions, that he could get the branches to just beat down his enemies but never before had it actually _happened_. He let his eyes drift to his hands, and realized that he was once again covered in that eerie purple/black smoke, but it was dissipating quickly.

Ahead of him Hawke slowly turned to face him, with an eyebrow raised.

"Getting a little carried away, aren't we?" Hawke asked.

Nero shrugged, "I'm... sorry?

"Meh, whatever. I'm tired, I'm going to bed. Meredith can wait for news tomorrow."

They all agreed and Anders headed to Darktown while Hawke, Nero and Fenris headed to the stairs that would take them to Hightown. They passed by Isabela, who was hanging out of her window in the Hanged man and called down to them. But she was plastered and they were tired so they didn't stop in to see her.

On the way home Hawke mumbled a whole lot about how stupid the templars were and Nero appeared to be busy thinking, which in turn led Fenris' mind to wander. To the same crap that it always did since they had returned from Ostwick.

_Denarius_.

It seemed indubitable that the magister was going to return. It had been more than a decade already and the bastard had never stopped hunting him down, and now that he had had Fenris in his hands, only to lose him again, he was going to be furious. Long ago Fenris realized that Denarius continued to chase after him for the sake of his own pride, certainly the mage had spent just as much money trying to reclaim Fenris as he did on the lyrium that marred his flesh. Before he could have let himself believe that Denarius would give up when it became too expensive to keep chasing him, but now...Denarius wold never give up.

Fenris sighed, Nero had done a stupid, stupid thing. Denarius would attempt to recapture Fenris, but Nero had crossed him in a way that Fenris knew would make the bastard's blood boil. Denarius grew furious at the smallest act of insubordination, even if it was accidental, and Nero had gone onto his own ship, killed it's crew, and his apprentice, and freed the slave that he had been after for years. And taking into account that whoever returned Nero would receive payment whether he was alive or dead...there was no doubt in Fenris' mind that Denarius planned to kill him.

So ever since they returned to Kirkwall he had been tense and stressed about it. When was Denarius going to return? How many men would he bring with him? Would he come himself, would he use magic so openly in the middle of a city that was considered the capital of templar power in the Free Marches? Fenris was tired, and growing sore, and the worry was eating at him in such a way that he was growing restless and irritated.

He wasn't even enjoying the rekindling of his relationship with Nero as much as he should be. When they were alone at night things were fine, he could ignore Denarius' inevitable return then, but when Nero fell asleep he could not. His stomach would tense and he would feel like he was going to puke until he finally fell asleep out of exhaustion. Nero could obviously tell something was wrong, and had asked what it was a couple of times, but Fenris knew that Nero knew he was worried about Denarius and he didn't feel like sharing the details. Luckily Nero never pushed.

He was so deep in thought that he didn't realize they were home until Nero began speaking to Hawke.

"You can go home if you wish, Hawke. You've covered for a lot of people this week and i'm sure you would like to sleep in your own bed."

Hawke frowned, "And what if Denarius comes?"

"If Denarius comes I have a feeling it wont be quietly, and there are plenty of guards around...maybe we should just get a dog."

Hawke laughed, "we should get you a mabari war hound. They're amazing brutes."

Nero smiled tiredly, "go home Hawke."

Hawke sighed, "alright, but only this once. If something stupid happens you bastards run and you come to my estate, i'll leave the door unlocked."

"Is that a good idea?" Nero asked.

Hawke chuckled, "there are a bunch of guards around, remember?"

With that Hawke left, leaving them to enter the quiet house alone. Fenris waited for Nero to do his scanning thing, something that he didn't quite understand, but Nero assured him it was foolproof. Something to do with feeling the river flow through things. Fenris didn't think about it too much, it made him uncomfortable.

Neither of them said anything till they were in the bedroom taking off their armor to get ready for bed. Fenris sighed loudly as he tossed a gauntlet on the chair, "do you not worry?" he asked

Nero turned to face him but did not look up from where he was untying his vest, "I worry about plenty of things."

"About Denarius returning, I mean." Fenris frowned struggling momentarily to unhook one of the buckles holding his chest-piece and back-piece together. He would never understand how Nero got out of his armor so quickly.

Nero set his over-shirt on the back of a chair and sat down on the bed to pull his boots and pants off. Leaving him in his sleeveless undershirt and underpants. He looked up to see Fenris struggling with his armor, and smiled a little before getting up to help him.

"I do worry about Denarius...but I try not to. If I let it bother me too much then I'll be as tired and tense as you are."

Fenris scowled, "how can you just _not_ worry about it?"

Nero frowned and carefully set bits and pieces of Fenris' armor on the table, the elf had been forced to put on his spiky set, due to his other clothing smell like shit...literally.

"When I was in Tevinter...it was easier to ignore all the painful things, the things I couldn't convince myself I liked, than it was to lie awake at night and let them plague me or torment myself with apprehension of the next day when it would happen again." he said quietly.

"You convinced yourself you liked things that you didn't?"

"You didn't? Maybe it was different for you, maybe you were forced to pretend that you enjoyed things you didn't less often than I did." Nero's expression grew dark, and Fenris could see a pain that he was sure Nero had not worn around him before, "It was a daily thing for me. Most...clients didn't want to simply torture me, they wanted to degrade me. It wasn't enough to whip me or rape me, they wanted me to believe I liked it. So I tried, I figured if I liked it then they would stop, and usually they did. I had myself believing I liked all sorts of things, when really all I liked about it was that it would stop if I begged and moaned for it."

"Sum paenitet." Fenris whispered, but it wasn't enough, he wanted to offer better comfort, but he did not know how.[I'm sorry.]

If Nero was even aware that Fenris spoke, he showed no sign, he seemed lost in his memory. "the worst part was that they would then ridicule me and belittle me for liking such dirty and twisted acts. As though they weren't the ones that had done it to me, as if I was the one that originally asked them to do it. And I would believe them, I would hate myself and be disgusted with myself and ask them for forgiveness, but they wouldn't give it to me. For years I tormented myself, thinking that I was demented and filthy.

"But there were things that I couldn't like, I wasn't capable of even pretending I liked. And I suffered those things repeatedly. I would lie awake every night, I barely got a few hours sleep, dreading the next day and the abuses I would have to suffer all over again, and I would be too tired to eat come morning. I would become so exhausted and strained that I would feel sick, and I would hate myself even more, because I wasn't _pleasing_ these people. I lived for their pleasure, but I was failing so tremendously, until eventually I just stopped caring. I accepted that I would feel physical pain, whether I worried about it or not. And I could sleep again, and I could eat, and these people would grow bored and go away because they weren't breaking me so badly anymore.

"So yes I worry, but I've learned that when you worry about things you can't control, you'll lose your fucking mind."


	14. Chapter 14

"Is Nero home." Anders asked a few weeks later.

"Yes...why?" Fenris questioned.

Anders sighed, he didn't want to explain to the elf what he was doing at their mansion in Hightown, he especially didn't want to explain what it was that he and Nero were going to do. Fenris was clever, and paranoid, if anyone was going to catch onto his plans Anders had no doubt that it would be the elf. So he sighed and said, "he broke his ribs not long ago, I figured I would check on them." he shrugged, it was a suitable lie.

Fenris sighed and moved to allow the mage to enter. Anders nodded and did so, noticing that the place was dusty again, although less dirty than it had been when the elf had first moved in. When Fenris closed the door he lead the way through the estate to the backyard to where Nero was lounging in the sun, his fingers entangled in the grass.

For a moment Anders felt an extreme guilt for the things he was making Nero an accomplice to. Here the man looked so blissful and at peace that he almost turned around and left, to fetch the sela petrae on his own. He frowned, if it was that easy he _would_ have done it on his own, but he knew those tunnels were fraught with people who would view his presence as a threat and attempt to kill him. He wasn't stupid enough to face an unknown number of adversaries on his own.

Nero glanced up as the door closed behind them and, seeing Anders, got up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. Anders realized that Nero was filthy, he had probably been gardening that morning and he was hit with another shot of guilt that Nero had started the elfroot garden for him but he didn't use it anymore. For a moment he considered asking where the elfroot was going, but decided it didn't matter.

"Anders, how are you?" Nero asked as he approached.

Anders shrugged, "I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

Nero frowned, "confused? what do you mean?"

"Your ribs?"

"Oh, yes, that." Nero chuckled, "I haven't even noticed them since we got back. I presume that's a good thing."

Anders nodded and glanced at the elf, _best not to drop the pretenses I suppose_. "I would like to examine them, just to be sure that they've healed properly."

Nero furrowed his brow, knowing that Anders knew that his ribs were fine, before he opened the door to head back inside and motioned for the mage to enter, he glanced back at Fenris who gave him a questioning look. He shrugged and followed the mage, leaving the elf outside. It wasn't until they reached Nero's room that either of them spoke again.

"Why are you really here, is this about the ingredients you wanted me to help you find?" Nero asked.

Anders chuckled, "yes it is, I had figured you must have forgotten, so I decided I would come to you."

Nero shrugged, "sorry, I didn't think you would want Fenris to come and he's been paranoid about splitting up, he's convinced that Denarius is going to bring an army here to capture us."

Anders raised an eyebrow, "an army, to Kirkwall? That seems pretty far-fetched. Not to mention the amount of templars here, I don't think bringing an army of mages to the heart of templar power in the free marches would be the best tactical decision."

Nero laughed, "I said as much to Fenris, he said that Denarius would hire a bunch of soldiers or mercenaries. The point is moot. Since you have come here I don't see him having a problem with my leaving with you, so long as you bring me back. He's more paranoid about my running into trouble if I go out alone."

Anders rolled his eyes, "well you have to admit, you do have a habit of getting seriously injured every few years."

Nero scowled, but chuckled, "I know, which is why I don't argue too much about it. Even though I'm beginning to lose my damned mind being stuck in this cursed mansion." he sighed, "I probably shouldn't leave Kirkwall though, so that stuff you wanted to get, from the bone pit was it? I'm not sure we should do that today."

"To get the sela petrae we just need to head back to Darktown and enter one of the sewers-"

"Your kidding me, sewers, again?"

Anders shrugged apologetically.

"And what, pray tell, is this sela petrae?"

"Its a mineral that can be extracted from...stuff found in sewers."

Nero's expression turned to one of disgust, "and you're going to ...drink this stuff?"

Anders frowned, that was kind of disgusting wasn't it? "Well there is purification stuff that I have to do with it..."

"That is still nasty."

"Try not to judge me."

Nero laughed, "trust me, I am trying."

Anders left the room for a few moments so that Nero could change into clothes that he didn't particularly care for. While Anders waited he heard the front door of the estate shut and familiar footsteps go across the main room. Then he could hear Fenris and what he thought was Isabela's voice, although he couldn't understand what was being said.

He gave up when Nero opened the door and turned to face him. Nero handed him an envelope with a gray warden wax seal on it and his heart skipped a beat. _Oh Maker, they know where I am, Bethany must have told them, shit, shit, shitshitshitshit-_

"Bethany sent me a letter, that was inside it, she wanted me to pass it on to you." Nero explained.

"Oh," he said after a few moments, and placed the envelope inside his jacket, "thanks."

"Nero eyed him suspiciously, "its the first letter she ever sent me, I guess she did not know how else to get mail to you, she said she used to have her brother pass it on, but she didn't want him to know about this one."

Anders nodded but didn't bother to elaborate. He hadn't heard from the girl in at least a year, maybe longer. At first, after the incident with Corypheus, they had sent each other letters quite regularly, but after a while...he became busy, and he hadn't the time. He stopped responding to the letters he received and eventually they stopped coming. For a moment he wondered if he would actually read it, or if he would toss it to the side and forget about it.

He shook his head, he would worry about it later, "I think Isabela is here."

"Oh good," Nero said, ignoring the fact that Anders was hiding something from him, it was nothing new, "she was supposed to be here hours ago, Hawke had to leave and couldn't wait for her to show up. Fenris must be livid."

...

It was almost dark by the time he returned the Hightown with Nero. The had spent most of the day in the sewer tunnels and were forced to fight some lyrium smugglers, carta thugs and a few apostate mages that Anders had never seen before. He had tried to reason with the mages, but they were convinced that he was their enemy and he was forced to kill them.

He was still fuming about how paranoid and angry the circle managed to make mages. He understood their anger and paranoia of course, he was the same, but the fact that the apostates found him untrustworthy was a little painful. He had worked so hard to smuggle circle mages from the Gallows, had risked his own freedom and the freedom and lives of the people that had helped him; he was no danger to the people he had killed that day, but they would not listen. It seemed that the mages that were escaping now were unsure where to go and what to do after they escaped. He used to smuggle the mages through the tunnels and assured their safety in getting to other cities and villages where they were then hooked up with someone that would take them to either Ferelden or Tevinter.

He sighed as he thought about it. After a few years of success in the mage underground it had eventually fallen apart. The templars became more vigilant, the mages in the tower were more afraid of repercussions if they got caught escaping than they were of the templars themselves, and the people helping him with the organization became scared that they would get caught. It had been a good system, but he knew that it wouldn't have lasted forever, even so it was sad to watch his pet project die.

He let his thoughts drift away as they approached Nero's home. He was eager to get back to his clinic to begin purifying the sela petrae samples he had obtained that day, but he had promised to accompany Nero back to the estate so he did.

Nero turned to him as he opened the door.

"Thanks for walking back with me...Oh, and before you go...I think you should get a new jacket. That one is kind of...dead." Nero said apologetically.

Anders looked down at his coat and frowned, "it's not that bad...and I can't really afford a new jacket."

"See a tailor then, get it dyed and...re-feathered or something." Nero suggested.

"I can't afford that either."

Nero scowled, "then take a job once in a while when Hawke offers them, you look like shit Anders."

It was the mages turn to scowl, "thanks."

Nero sighed, "tell me I'm wrong."

"I'll see you some other time Nero." he said sharply before turning and walking away.

"Anders!" Nero called from the doorway, but the man ignored him, "goddamned emotional prig" he muttered before closing the door.

It wasn't until he got home and had set water to boil for the sela petrae and was taking off his jacket that he remembered the letter Nero had given him. He finished undressing and tossed his clothes into a bucket of soapy water to clean and put on an extra pair of pants before sitting down to read the note.

Anders,

You haven't messaged me in years, and Garret wont say much when I ask about you. How are you doing? What are you doing? Have I done something to upset you? Why wont you write me back?

I'm not completely sure why I'm bothering to write you at all right now. I know I wont receive anything back, but Garret has told me not to bother writing you and I wanted to know why he would say such a thing? Are you with someone else and writing to me now is awkward? I don't mind if your with someone else, things happen and its not as if we can be together, I'm happy for you if you have found somebody, but does that really mean we can't be friends anymore?

Is it Justice that is preventing you from writing me? Or is this a decision you have made all on your own? I'll stop writing if you wish, but I would like to know what's wrong. Did you want me to stop writing? you had never said as much in any of your previous letters, if you do want me to stop, let me know, even if there is no explanation...I just feel very confused about all of this.

I considered you a good friend, and an honest person, so I cannot believe that you have cast me aside for something as silly as being bored by me or whatnot. I just want to understand, can you help me with that much, at least?

I must sound terribly desperate, but I need to know what is going on. I miss hearing from you, it was something I used to look forward to, receiving your letters. Garrets letters are fine, but they have always been few and far between, and lately its usually just his babbling about nobles and how annoying they are.

I miss you Anders, please right me back.

Sincerely,

Bethany Hawke.

Anders read the letter a few more times before sighing sadly and tossing it on the table. He looked over to see that the water was boiling and put the sela petrae samples in the pot to boil with it for about fifteen minutes or so. When he sat back down he read the letter again.

His chest hurt, she sounded wounded and he knew that he had hurt her, as he had warned her he would. But the warning didn't do anything to prevent the guilt he felt over it. He missed talking to her as well, but he refused to let her get involved in his mess in any way possible. Even if he never told her anything about it but they were still together, as much as they could be in that respect, and anybody found out then she would be accused of being his accomplice, even if just because she was a mage and they communicated.

Besides that, he wasn't sure he could be with her and then do what needs to be done without telling her. He was sure that his plan would end in his death, it would be unfair to continue a relationship, even if long distance, with someone when he was going to die sooner rather than later.

He did miss her something terrible sometimes though. Sometimes when Justice finally let him go to sleep he would lay awake despite his exhaustion and remember what it was like to have her sharing his stupid, dingy, cot with him. It had only been for a week before she had to go back to the Wardens, but it had been a glorious week. He had been shaken up by the deep roads for some time after their return, and he continued to kick himself for attacking the group when they were down there but she had convinced him that it wasn't his fault. He was being attacked and Justice had reacted. And he had believed her.

He was fairly certain that he would believe anything she told him, he was sure if he told her of his plans that she would be able to convince him not to follow through with them. Which was another reason he couldn't tell her, Justice wouldn't let him.

He rubbed his face and stirred the pot of sela petrae. After the time was up he would have to mix it with wood ashes to remove some of the minerals by precipitation, so he would have to cover it in a tightly sealed, upside down jar that he had procured for the task. Then he would take the remaining muck, the sela petrae and ash mixture, and let it dry into a powder which he would then mix with the drakestone.

He did not look forward to getting the drakestone and leaving the sela petrae in his clinic. He worried about thieves, even though he had never had a break-in. He figured they would take the sela petrae thinking it some sort of drug and he would have to go back into the sewers to collect more. He didn't want to collect more.

He grimaced and stared down at his bare feet. He was still filthy, and he needed to wash his clothes...but he might as well have a bath first. He checked on the sela petrae and noticed that there was still water in the pot so he sat down to wait a bit longer. Justice began nagging him about working on his manifesto and he grimaced again.

Tonight was going to be a long one.


	15. Chapter 15

Anders was very quiet when they took the trek out to the Bone Pit mines to gather drakestone. Nero chalked it up to his being irritable that Sebastian and Fenris were with them. It was unfortunate, but Nero couldn't leave the city alone, even he knew that was a stupid idea, and even with Anders there it was still dangerous. Anders had argued and fought, saying that he would rather go by himself, but Nero had eventually convinced him to let the others come and so here they were, walking to the Bone Pit.

"Are you an Andrastian, Fenris?" Sebastian suddenly asked, he had discussed several things related to the faith with the elf, but he realized that he never actually found out if his friend believed it. He certainly seemed skeptical.

"If I say no, will you attempt to convert me?" Fenris asked.

"Many elves believe in the Maker. I just wondered if your experiences... soured your faith."

"My faith was never strong. It's difficult for a slave to have faith in someone who abandoned them."

"The Maker didn't enslave you, Fenris." Sebastian assured him gently.

"He didn't help me much, either."

"And yet you stand here, free. Perhaps He helped you more than you think."

"The Maker didn't free me. I freed myself. If the Maker did anything, He watched. Why should I thank Him for that?" Fenris replied sourly.

"Is it so hard to believe the Maker cares for you? Maybe He gave you the chance to escape."

"It doesn't feel like the Maker cares for me... or anyone."

"Didn't the Maker abandon us? Doesn't that indicate he doesn't care?" Nero asked.

"We all make our own choices, to do good as well as evil. That is our doing, not the Maker's." Sebastian told them

"Then what does the Maker do, watch us like we're a play?" Nero snorted.

"The maker works in mysterious ways, we are too far below his station to truly understand the way he works."

"That sounds like an excuse"

"The Maker does not make a person evil, he did not create the situation where you and Fenris were forced into servitude." Sebastian said.

"He did not prevent it from happening either. How can you tell me he cares about me when he has allowed such atrocities to take place? Do I even fall under his care? I was created with less than pure intentions, doesn't that mean I am a byproduct if evil?"

"How do you know that the maker didn't guide your creator's hands to create you?"

"If he did guide their hands then why did he not prevent them from using those same hands to abuse me?"

Sebastian shook his head, "there is no clear answer. Maybe you were abused so that you may appreciate your life now. Maybe Fenris was enslaved so that he would truly enjoy his freedom."

"Perhaps." Fenris said, "It's... been a long time since I gave it any thought."

"It's not too late to start."

"It sounds like a bunch of rubbish to me." Nero scowled.

Sebastian sighed and turned his attentions back to the elf while Nero fell into pace beside the mage, where they brooded in comfortable silence.

"Were you ever dedicated in the faith of the chantry?" Sebastian asked Fenris.

"I have no memory of my childhood. Danarius had no desire to teach his slaves anything that made them think they're worthy beings."

"I'm sorry. I can't imagine how difficult your life has been." Sebastian told him, momentarily regretting that he had brought it up.

"No, you can't."

"Whether you were taught it or not, the Maker has room at His side for every soul. Even yours. "

Fenris grunted but did not respond and the next several minutes were spent in silence till Sebastian decided to voice something that he had been considering for quite some time.

"You know, when I return to Starkhaven you're welcome to come with me."

Sebastian watched as Fenris glanced at Nero before looking at him skeptically.

"Nero is welcome too, of course." Sebastian added.

Nero gaped for several moments, stunned by this invitation, he wouldn't have expected Sebastian to offer him anything, even if it was for the sake of his friend. Then he chuckled, "that might not be the best move you could make. Even though slavery is abolished in the Free Marches I'm sure the Archon of Tevinter would be less than pleased to find out that you are in possession of his property. He might claim that you stole me. I don't think as the new ruler of Starkhaven bringing along something that may start a war would be a good plan."

Sebastian frowned but did not reply, it was several more minutes before anyone spoke

"And what exactly would you have me do in Starkhaven?" Fenris asked curiously.

"You're a fine warrior. If you could train men to fight like you do, we'd be unstoppable." Sebastian smiled.

Fenris scoffed, "I'm no leader, and I doubt humans would want me training them."

"Then why not train elves? I bet there's plenty who would admire all you've accomplished."

"I... haven't accomplished anything." Fenris said slowly

"No? You are your own man, living as you see fit—you give yourself too little credit."

"You are being kind."

"Not at all. Think about it."

Fenris scratched his chin, "I'll keep it in mind, maybe someday."

"Good...is that smoke?" Sebastian asked.

Nero shifted his gaze to the direction that Sebastian was indicating and sure enough, there were faint trails of smoke wafting into the air.

"Trouble at the mines?" He asked.

Fenris sighed, "of course there is trouble at the mines, why wouldn't things go completely smoothly for once?"

They hastened their pace and quickly came upon the remains of the workers camp. Every structure that had been erected before, to provide cover for the worker's camps and food, had caught fire and lay in charred heaps all around the outside of the camp, which was littered with burned corpses.

"What happened here?" Sebastian asked incredulously.

"I'm more concerned with where the rest of the workers are. They couldn't still be in the mines, could they?" Nero asked.

Anders shook his head, "it looks like these fires have been going on for quite some time."

"Well...why don't we look for survivors in the caves while we look for drakestone?" Nero suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Anders looked sadly at one of the corpses, "I wish we had made it here sooner."

"And get caught up in whatever caused this? I think I'll pass." Nero said.

...

Hawke frowned, this was not something he felt like doing on a day that he didn't have any appointments to keep or people to please. He had anticipated simply going to the Hanged Man, having a few drinks, maybe flirting a bit with Isabela, and basically doing fuck all, all day.

But, alas, Hubert had stopped him before he had even left Hightown with one hell of a sad story.

"Catastrophe has truck, Partner! We are ruined, ruined!" Hubert had exclaimed.

So he had sighed loudly and listened as the man explained that a cart had returned from the Bone Pit with a dozen mangled bodies and some babble about mages being unable to get a horse to speak. Hawke had promised to look into it, not that day of course, and had gone on his merry little way.

But, while drinking at the Hanged Man, he had a hard time getting the stupid Bone Pit off of his mind and eventually realized that he would have to go out there so that he could get some actual relaxing done.

Varric was unable to accompany him, work, he said, but Isabela shrugged her shoulders, chugged the rest of her drink and decided to join him. He was happy for the company, even if he was often left confused when he and the pirate parted ways. He couldn't sort his stupid head around it, what was she doing to him? What did she _mean_ to him?

They were almost at the mine when he realized that he was having quite the time stressing about what they would find in the Bone Pit and trying to figure women, specifically Isabela, out. His brain was about as tired as his legs when he decided that he needed to take a rest and motioned for the pirate to stop while he sat unceremoniously on a tree stump.

"You always take me to the nicest places, Hawke." Isabela teased.

"I do try. What's more fun than traveling to a mine in the middle of nowhere to see why everyone is dead?" He smiled.

"I can think of a few things." she winked.

"I have no doubt." He smirked.

Her confidence quaked under his smile. She couldn't tell if she was reading desire in there or not. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to, or so she told herself. She hadn't felt this way in years, not since she was a little girl. That man had broken her heart...given, she was only a child, so it wasn't very difficult. But since then...she was guarded, always. _He's gay, you imbecile. You know better_. she chided herself.

"Oh maker." she breathed as she let her head fall into her hands. When did their flirting become something other than an ironic joke between them? He was gay, he liked other men, they used to sit in the Blooming Rose and talk about what they would do to the more expensive male whores.

But then there were also times in the Blooming Rose that they would rate the whores, and the clients, on a scale of 1-10. 1 being a terrible lay and 10 being excellent sex - as they imagined it. He had never rated a woman higher than 7 but he did rate them, she had always assumed it was just a joke on his part, but maybe he actually believed the numbers he gave them, what if he wasn't as strictly into men as they both thought?

She knew he had never been with a woman, he had told her that years ago. But, now that she recalled it, he hadn't said it was because he had no interest in them...did that mean he did?

_Why are you doing this to yourself. You know he doesn't like you that way, and that's fine, because you don't like him that way either. Stop being such a girl Isabela, you're starting to sound as ridiculous as Merril._

"Isabela...whats wrong?" Hawke asked.

She jumped, having been so deep in her thoughts that she forgot he was there.

She looked at him for a moment before laughing, "nothing Hawke, Nothing. But I was wondering...have you been with a woman yet?"

He gaped at her for long enough that she almost regretted asking it. But then he smirked devilishly.

"Are you offering?" he asked.

She chuckled but did not reply, allowing him to draw his own conclusions. They sat in silence for a while, and she had begun to believe the subject dropped when he spoke again.

"No, I have not. I have been...if I ask you to keep a secret, will you keep it?" he asked hesitantly.

She looked him in the eye as she said, "yes, I will keep a secret." and she was quite surprised to realize that she would.

"I have been pretty exclusive to men for as long as I can remember. But sometimes... sometimes I wonder if that's only because I lost my virginity to a man. Maybe I stuck to men after that because I understand them better than I understand women, and therefore I found it more comfortable to be with them."

She thought a long time before speaking, "have you ever thought about being with a woman?"

He frowned, "a few times. But I never acted on it and it never seemed to last that long, until...I've never thought too much of it, to be honest, until recently."

She furrowed her brow, _what does that mean?_

"But come," he said, his serious tone replaced with his usual comedic one, "we have a disaster to get to the bottom of. All this talk is starting to make me feel like an adult."

"Hawke." She said, "you're old. You're _supposed _to be an adult."

He gasped and placed a hand on his chest dramatically, "I am not old, I am only 27, I will have you know."

"See?" She said with a smirk, "old."

He scowled at her, "and how 'old' are you? From my calculations we'll be replacing your underwear with diapers any day now."

She smacked him in the arm hard but continued down the path towards the mine. Leaving him laughing loudly behind her.


	16. Chapter 16

It was hours later that they emerged from the mines, unfortunately they had found no survivors but they had come across numerous dragonlings, littered among the giant spiders. Anders had gotten his drakestone and was eager to head back to get to work on it.

"Thank you, I wouldn't have asked just anyone to venture int here for me." Anders told Nero, "there is one more thing, but we must discuss it privately."

"Okay..." Nero raised an eyebrow in question.

"That's odd." Sebastian said.

Anders shrugged and lead the way down the path. They didn't get very far before they heard voices and Fenris motioned for them to hide behind a rock.

"Why are we hiding?" Anders whispered.

"It could be slavers." Fenris told him with a roll of his eyes.

"But...I can hear Hawke." Anders said.

Sure enough Hawke and Isabela strolled towards their position and, feeling like an idiot, Fenris came out of hiding to greet them, the others following.

"So, I see Hubert wasn't completely losing his mind." Hawke said, surveying the damage.

"Hubert?" Nero asked

"The other guy who owns the mines, he believed something bad had gone down here, it would appear he was correct."

"That doesn't explain why you are here, though." Isabela mentioned.

Hawke gasped, "don't worry Captain, if you want me all to yourself I can just send them on their way."

She eyed him appreciatively, "please do."

Before a blush could manage to completely take hold of him, Hawke was saved by Fenris, "the mage wanted drakestone for some project of his."

Hawke raised an eyebrow, "project?"

Anders groaned, "I was hoping to keep these to a small group of people but sure, everyone can know. I'm trying to separate from Justice and needed drakestone for a potion. Alright?"

Hawke put his hands up, indicating he meant no harm, "alright, alright. I was just asking. _Maker_."

"So if you were in the mines...did you happen to catch sight of what caused this mess?" Isabela asked.

Nero shook his head, "we didn't find any survivors either."

Isabela threw her hands up in disgust, "ugh, I was hoping you had done all the work for us."

"I think it's a dragon." Fenris said.

Hawke groaned, "why would you say that, Fenris? If I can't be one I don't want anything to do with them."

"Well...excluding the fact that we've killed one here before, we ran into dragonlings inside the mines." Fenris explained, "but if we find a dragon we'll keep very still and let you do all the talking, maybe it'll tell you how to become one."

Hawke scowled, "I hate you."

"It was a joke."

"But when you tell jokes they just feel like insults."

"The best jokes are insults, are they not?" Fenris smirked.

Isabela laughed, "he has a point."

"Maker's breath. Lets just find the damned dragon or whatever. You lot are coming, right?" Hawke asked.

"I wouldn't dream of making you face a dragon alone, Hawke." Sebastian told him.

"What am I, chopped onions?" Isabela asked.

"Well, with the way you drink and the smell that comes off of you when you do, it does make me want to cry." Anders smirked.

"That happens when you haven't had a drink in years. You can't stand it when someone else is having one." Isabela told him.

"That's not true, you don't make me want to cry when you drink." Sebastian reassured her.

"That's because you wont come near me when I drink." Isabela chuckled.

Sebastian frowned, "your very...inappropriate...when your drunk. I just prefer it to be from afar."

"Hey, wasn't that area blocked by a bunch of rocks before? Lets go!" Hawke interrupted cheerfully as he lead the way down a fresh path.

"If we run into a dragon, don't be offended if I run, screaming." Nero said.

"You would leave me to face a dragon with this lot of idiots?" Hawke teased.

"Yes."

"Harsh."

"This may come as a shock to you, but dragons are scary." Nero told him.

"Not when they are really old women."

"She wasn't just an old woman, Hawke. She was a witch." Fenris put in.

"Well yeah, how else would a woman turn into a dragon. Pfft." Hawke laughed.

"I don't think most dragons are old women." Nero grumbled.

"How many dragons have you met?" Hawke asked

"Not many."

"There you go."

"Ugh."

They reached the end of a path and found themselves in a large open space, surrounded by rocks and cliffs.

"Isn't that where we fought that dragon before?" Anders asked, pointing at a flat outcropping in the cliffs.

"I think-" Hawke began, he was interrupted by a dragon, much larger than the first one they had fought, flying over them from the way they had come to land in the center of the clearing and roared fire around itself before flapping its wings once and staring at them menacingly.

Hawke gaped for several seconds before he said simply, "fuck."

Nero turned to Hawke, amazement on his face, "you want us to kill that?" he asked incredulously.

"That's a High Dragon Hawke, I don't think they get much bigger than that." Sebastian said.

"Well, this should be a hell of a tale for Varric to tell." Hawke told them.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Nero said

"Nope." Hawke grinned.

"Freedom was good while it lasted, I suppose." Fenris grumbled.

"Come on now guys, we can't go after it thinking that we're going to die. We're just setting ourselves up for failure." Hawke tried to reassure them.

"No, that fucking dragon is setting us up for failure." Nero said.

"At least we'll die gloriously." Anders muttered.

"Well if we're going to try and kill it lets go, frig." Isabela said before she pulled her daggers from their scabbards and approached the beast.

The others trailed after her but Nero grabbed Fenris by the arm and pulled him back for a moment. Fenris was about to ask what he was doing but was interrupted by Nero's hands on his face and lips on his own. When Nero pulled away he was frowning.

"Lets try not to die, alright?" he said grimly.

Fenris nodded and they quickly joined the others. Hawke was in the front and hollered to get the dragons attention while Isabela skirted around the beast and stabbed it in the back of the leg, trying to sever the tendons, and failing.

The beast hollered and kicked Isabela away, she gracefully rolled till she was standing, but was disoriented for a few moments. Hawke smacked the dragons face with his shield and they heard a growl escape it before it trapped Hawke under its claw. Luckily it wasn't crushing him, nor did the claws cut him anywhere.

Anders sent a healing spell at Isabela, which served to clear her head, and shot a frost spell at the dragon, unfortunately the dragon didn't seem fazed by it at all. At the same time Sebastian was shooting arrows at the dragons face, trying to blind it. But between the dragon moving its head back and forth and its tough skin he wasn't even damaging it.

Fenris took the opportunity to attack the dragon himself, running at it and dodging its face, making decent cuts along its chest and across its neck, but thus far had not nicked any arteries or veins. Nero looked around the area and thought quickly about what he could do, there were some trees but after feeling beneath the ground he couldn't' find many roots. Growing irate he did the next best thing and ran at the leg holding Hawke down, wrapping his arms around it and slicing an x into the back of it.

It must have caused quite a bit of pain as Nero was soon sent flipping throughout the air and while the foot was up Hawke scrambled out of the way and joined Fenris so that they could better fight the dragon. Nero landed in a crouch behind the group and, instead of running back at the dragon, he ran behind it to where Isabela was making to attack it again and pulled her away.

"I need you to fight it up front, I have an idea." He told her.

"What the fuck are you going to do?" Isabela asked, breathless.

"Just watch."

She frowned but joined Hawke and Fenris anyway and Nero made his way back to where Sebastian and Anders were still trying to damage the beast. He knelt and focused his energy on the sandy earth.

A few moments later the sand underneath the dragons back feet flew out behind it, creating a crater that the dragon began to fall into. It turned its head to look at the wall of dirt still shooting up behind it and with a roar she returned her attentions to the people in front of her. Hawke, Fenris and Isabela were backing away from the growing crater and, upon seeing this, the dragon grabbed one of them, hoping to take one of them down with her. She growled triumphantly as she caught the white-haired elf in its jaw and nearly dropped him in her excitement, but she caught him again and was pleased when she heard the elf screaming from her mouth. Then the dragon returned her attention to the problem of the still deepening hole that she was falling into.

Nero watched, horrified as the dragon grabbed Fenris in it's powerful jaws. He was frozen for a moment, the hole that he had made continuing to grow, before he made to stop it. He couldn't let the dragon take Fenris down there with it. He was just about to halt his control of the river when Sebastian finally hit his target.

The dragon dropped Fenris as it screamed, trying to paw at its own face. Luckily Fenris didn't fall far to the ground, so he didn't suffer any broken bones, but his armor was pierced in several spots and he was bleeding heavily. Hawke and Isabela ran forward to drag him back, and brought him strait to Anders. Anders motioned for them to take him behind one of the rocks, hoping to afford himself some sort of safety from the still very much alive dragon.

Nero watched as Fenris was taken to Anders, and despite his increasing need to go make sure that the elf would make it, he knew that he had to get rid of the dragon first and instead of cutting off his control of the sand he pushed more of his will into it and made the hole grow even faster.

The dragon realized what was happening and, trying to ignore its blinded eye for now, it flapped its wings and pulled itself out of the hole and flew around the crater a few times before landing on the outcropping in the middle of the rocks.

Nero cursed and let go his control of the sand and dirt and turned to run to the mage and Fenris. The dragon had grabbed Fenris at an angle and there were two lines that met at a point in his inner thigh just above the knee where the dragons teeth had sunk into him. One line reached from the inner thigh diagonally across his stomach and collarbone, narrowly avoiding his neck, the other one made a bloody line from the inner thigh and across his stomach, ending just above his hip.

Nero let loose a string of curses when he saw all of the blood, and he realized that the elf was unconscious.

"Can you fix it?" Nero asked the mage, desperately.

Anders was still inspecting the damage, but said "yes, although he's going to be angry about it. I think a few of his organs were nicked, but I can fix them."

Nero nodded and looked up to where the dragon was kneeling sadly, still pawing at its face.

"Dammit, as if a High Dragon isn't enough, we now have its fucking kids to kill." Hawke yelled angrily.

Nero looked at the man and realized that the opening was quickly being filled with dragonlings. Anders noticed this as well and cursed. Nero thought quickly, trying to come up with something that could protect Anders and let him heal Fenris without being disturbed.

"Anders, can you make a fireball?" Nero asked.

Anders cocked an eyebrow questioningly, "yes, but what-"

"Just do it, alright? I'll cover you and Fenris, then you can heal him."

"I can't keep up a fireball and heal at the-"

"Just do it!" Nero snapped.

Anders frowned but raised his hand and created a fireball.

"Keep it alight, even when I take from it." Nero told him.

"What..." Anders began but trailed off as the fire trailed from his hand and created a circle around Nero, Fenris, him and the rock they were hiding behind. It wasn't long before a wall of fire was completely encircling them.

"you can stop the spell now." Nero told him as he sat down and focused his attentions on maintaining the fire wall.

"That's amazing." Anders said in awe.

Nero's brow was furrowed when he said, "just heal him."

Anders nodded and began working.

Sebastian had watched as the fire wall was being formed and was quite amazed by the spectacle. His attention was quickly taken elsewhere, however, and he set about shooting down the dragonlings. Luckily they fell when he shot them in the eye with an arrow, their heads being smaller than the high dragon's, allowing his arrows to pierce their brains.

Hawke and Isabela stood back to back and sliced at the dragonlings tirelessly, none of them were able to get close enough to deal any damage, and Hawke was grateful that the little lizards couldn't breath fire.

When only a few dragonlings remained the high dragon raised her head and noticed that her children were being slaughtered. She shot balls of fire at her aggressors and roared angrily. Then she flew down from the outcropping and landed in front of Hawke and Isabela, sending the remaining dragonlings back into hiding. She whipped her tail from side to side in a rage and roared in their faces.

Hawke gagged, "your breath stinks." he told the beast.

Sebastian was far enough away that he wasn't affected by the roar and he aimed his arrow at the dragon's remaining eye. He grinned manically when the arrow hit it's mark and watched the dragon throw its head back in blind agony. Hawke took advantage of this and tossed his shield to the ground and, holding his sword in two hands, he ran forward and sunk his blade into the side of the dragons throat, so that the point was sticking out of the other end. With a holler he forced the blade down and through the tissue till his blade sunk into the sand and his feet and leggings were covered in the blood gushing from the dragons neck.

He backed away quickly as the dragon fell to the ground and then he watched and waited for the dragon to stop breathing.

Isabela strode over to him, holding his shield, and handed it to him before surveying the dragon beside him.

"Well...I guess this _will _be a hell of a story for Varric to tell, won't it?" She said.

He chuckled, "I told you it would be."


	17. Chapter 17

Anders had done a good job of healing the elf while they were protected by the shield of fire that Nero had made. He had spent most of his power healing the internal wounds and bruising and when he reached the outer wounds he found himself weakening and he had been unable to heal the tissues completely and ended up leaving scars.

Fenris had lost a lot of blood and they had been forced to carry him back to Hightown because he was still unconscious. For most of the walk home the group was surprised to find that Nero's eyes weren't purple, but a dark blue. Nero had explained that he had used so much power from the river that his bodily reserves were empty. Anders was fascinated to learn that Nero's eyes were purple _because_ of his strong connection to the river and had asked many questions about it, but unfortunately Nero didn't understand it very well.

Anders had followed Sebastian and Nero as they carried Fenris to his room. After the elf was settled in bed they left Sebastian to watch over him so that Nero could change and find Fenris some clean clothes. Anders followed him out and waited outside Nero's room while he changed, when Nero opened the door and jumped when he caught sight of the mage.

"Maker's Breath, Anders. What are you doing here?" Nero asked.

"I need to talk to you, I need your help for something else, and I can't tell you why."

"If it involves sewers or dragons I'm going to have to decline."

Anders chuckled, "Not quite, although that depends on how you view the Chantry."

Nero sighed, "I'm not going to like this."

"I must get inside the Chantry, without being seen. Will you talk to the Grand Cleric for me? Distract her long enough for me to do what must be done."

"And what, pray tell, must be done?" Nero asked suspiciously.

"You would not thank me if i told you. If you support freedom for mages, help me. That's all I can say." Anders said grimly.

"What would I even talk to the Grand Cleric about? I don't like her much more than you do."

"Food? The weather? What does it matter? No, talk about mages. Give her one final chance to hear what we have suffered. To pick a side. Perhaps she'll be more inclined to listen to you."

Nero snorted, "cause that's believable." he sighed again, in frustration, "what is it you don't want me to see?"

"I would not tell you my plans, Nero. You have made it plain where your sympathies lie. I will ask you straight then. Has nothing you've seen changed your mind? Will you help me free the mages of Kirkwall, or would you stay at the side of the knight-tyrant?" Anders accused.

"This again? Andraste's tits, Anders! I have been tortured by mages and templar sympathizers, I'm fairly certain i was going to raped by a templar. I don't _have_ a side, I'm beginning to think the lot of you are just fucked up as a whole."

"But you will not stand and fight for people that have had their rights unjustly taken away from them, is that not something you can sympathize with?" Anders spat.

Nero laughed without humor, "from what i see, circle mages still have rights. You will not understand the gravity of what its like to have 'no rights' until every breath you take and every drop of blood you shed are owned by someone else. Don't talk to me about rights." Nero, unable to face the mage any longer, began to pace angrily.

Several minutes passed before Nero walked up to where Anders was watching him with his arms folded and a scowl on his face, and said, "is there even a potion? This has nothing to do with you separating from Justice, does it?"

"I lied, there is no potion." Anders admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders, "but what we have gathered will bring freedom for more than just me and Justice. It will help mages throughout Thedas. In the face of that, one lie means little."

"Except that your now asking that person you lied to to help you further. That's just idiotic."

"Fine. Don't trust me, but don't expect I'll ever trust you again after that. Is this what you want Nero?"

"You have got to be kidding...you aren't kidding." Nero laughed again, "how can I trust you if you wont trust me enough to tell me what your planning? The shit your trying to use against me is the same garbage that is being used against you! You're being such a hypocrite that i think my brain might explode with the idiocy of it all."

"I want to tell you, I do, but you'll probably try and stop me. No, I know you will." Anders sighed, "I didn't _want_ to lie to you, but you wouldn't have helped me otherwise. Why only go halfway, you might as well stick with me till the end, right?"

Nero narrowed his eyes, "no, I wont help with this. This entire situation is making me sick to my stomach. If you wont trust me anymore, that's fine, our friendship crumbled apart years ago. I'll still worry about you, and what your doing to yourself, but there is nothing i can do to stop it. I'm sorry i couldn't live up to your expectations."

Anders stared at him for several minutes, his anger rising by the second, before he snorted and stormed out. Nero sighed and watched him go, wondering what in the void he was accessory to.

...

By the time Fenris woke up Sebastian had gone to a spare bedroom to sleep and Nero had fallen asleep in a chair by the bed. Fenris looked at the canopy in confusion, why was he in his room? Why was he alone? For a moment he wondered if maybe he had dreamt that he and Nero had gotten back together, and made to get up. The new skin, the scar tissue, tightened with his movements and he quickly remembered what happened.

He was almost eaten by a dragon.

_Venhedis._

He let himself fall back to the mattress with a groan and pushed down the blankets to look at his chest. He had a red line going across his stomach and chest, and another going across just his stomach, to end at his side. He realized, with no small amount of terror, how ...central the scars were, and quickly sat up and pulled up his sleeping pants. He had just reassured himself that he was still intact when he heard a snort from the chair and looked over to where Nero was stretching in the chair.

"I made sure you still had your bits before Anders healed you. I figured if it was gone you would rather bleed out and die." Nero smirked and sat back in the chair, cracking his knuckles.

Fenris grunted and let himself fall so that he was completely on his back again, and continued to inspect his scars. There were several places where the scars had crossed some of his lyrium burns, it was interesting to see the lyrium interrupted in such a way. He wondered what happened to it, did it flow out, like blood? Or was it just torn and pulled apart to allow new skin in? He chuckled, Denarius would be absolutely red with rage, if this had happened while he was still a slave.

"How are you feeling?" Nero asked, slightly concerned that the elf was laughing for no discernible reason. He wasn't sure he would laugh if he woke up covered in scars from a Maker forsaken _dragon_.

"Fine. Nothing seems to hurt." Fenris told him.

"Fine for almost being eaten by a dragon, you mean."

"Yes, that."

"Maker." Nero muttered and looked away, losing himself in his thoughts. It had struck him hours before that he had almost lost Fenris, that the elf could have died. He had had a minor panic attack about it once he realized it. He tried to imagine his life without him, but he couldn't, and he wasn't sure what he would have done had Fenris _not_ made it out alive. It had been shocking and unpleasant, and he had been so grateful for Anders that he could have kissed the man. But then Anders had gone and had his little shit-fit, but Nero was still grateful all the same.

The whole experience had brought along with it a frightening realization. He didn't just want or need Fenris, he loved him. He loved that stubborn, white-haired, dangerous bastard in a way that he would never have dreamed possible. He loved him so much that it hurt. He realized that he had loved Fenris for a very, very long time, he had just refused to put the term to it. He had once thought he had loved Arsenio, and it was only now that he truly realized that he hadn't.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Fenris asked, pulling Nero from his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Why are you sleeping in the chair?"

"Oh," Nero said, "i didn't mean to fall asleep in it...but i hadn't quite made up my mind about whether or not i should sleep in the bed. I didn't know if you would be sore or...whatever."

"I'm fine."

Nero smiled, "I know that _now,_ but you have told me I kick sometimes when I sleep, and i didn't want to kick you in one of your new scars."

Fenris looked back down at his chest and grimaced, "they aren't very ...attractive, are they?"

Nero laughed and got out of the chair to straddle the elf on the bed, "their kind of sexy, I think."

Fenris raised a skeptical eyebrow, "you have strange ideas of sexy."

"So you've said. Try to think of them as new lines for me to trace."

Fenris couldn't help himself, and he smirked, "with what?"

"Whatever you wish."

"Interesting."

Nero chuckled and pulled the blankets back on the unoccupied side of the bed and rolled off of Fenris to get under the blankets with him. He lay on his side and shuffled closer to the elf to wrap one of his legs around Fenris' before resting his head on the pillow. Fenris turned his head to look at the other man and pushed away a strand of hair that fell in Nero's face. Nero was watching him, closely it seemed, and his expression slowly grew more serious till finally he spoke.

"You almost died." he said.

"I could have, yes." Fenris agreed.

"After I realized the gravity of what happened, it...terrified me."

Fenris frowned and turned onto his side so that he was facing the other man and dug one of his hands into Nero's hair before pulling him into a short kiss.

He let his forehead rest against Nero's and said quietly, "I'm sorry."

Nero shook his head, "it's not your fault."

"I should have been more careful."

"You couldn't have foreseen that happening."

"I could have raised my sword and stopped it."

"You didn't have time."

"I could have jumped out of the way."

"It still could have caught you."

"It shouldn't have happened."

"Its not your fault that it did."

Fenris didn't speak again for several more minutes, he simply listened to the other man breathe and let himself absorb Nero's body heat. He felt...not guilty for being caught by the dragon, Nero was right , he couldn't have foreseen that happening. But he was troubled by the fact that he caused Nero to worry, that he had frightened him. He wrapped his arm around Nero's waist and pulled him closer, so that there wasn't any space between their bodies. He lowered his head so that he was between Nero's head and the pillow, and squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't understand why frightening Nero, even though he didn't mean to, made him want to cry. He wasn't exactly prone to crying.

"I'm sorry I worried you." He whispered.

"It's alright, its not your fault, I-it's just, I...I was just stressed. If you died, I can't-I don't...I love you, and I don't think I could handle it if I lost you." Nero said quietly. He tucked his chin closer to his chest, so that he could raise his ear from the pillow and hear anything the elf said. He hadn't expected to come out with his realization so soon, but it came out, and he felt his heart start pounding in anticipation of the response.

Fenris took a while to respond. At first he was so stunned by the confession that he could not think. It had never truly occurred to him that Nero might love him, he had hoped, sure, but hearing Nero say it gave the notion a depth that blew his mind. How did he end up so lucky? What were the chances that he, a slave and a monster, would escape his torment to find someone whom he would fall in love with? And to have that love returned...

He pulled away and watched Nero carefully, trying to see if there was any hint of deception. He knew Nero's face and expressions well enough that he was sure he would be able to detect it. But he was wasting his time, he knew that. He did not recall ever hearing a lie come from those lips, and he knew that Nero was telling the truth.

"I love you as well." he said.


	18. Chapter 18

A few weeks later Nero was just heading up to Fenris' room after having a bath when he heard voices coming from it, he stopped just outside the door, not wishing to interrupt the conversation. Which in turn lead him to eavesdrop.

"Are you certain it is her?" Fenris was asking.

"An elf matching your description, on the ship you named. And alone, as far as I could tell." He heard Aveline reply.

_Aveline? Elf? What is he on about?_

He heard a clunk, as if somebody had smacked the table, then Fenris said, "I need to know if it's a trap!"

"I did as you asked, Fenris. Now it's up to you." Aveline said calmly.

Confused Nero threw open the door and entered just as Aveline was getting up to leave.

"You talk to him, Nero. I've had my fill for the day." she said before leaving.

Fenris was still leaning on the table, frustration emanating off of him like a fog.

"Venhedis! Fasta vass!" Fenris spat.

"Are you leaving me for an elven woman?" Nero asked, a small smirk on his face, trying to lighten the elf's mood.

Surprisingly Fenris chuckled, "it's my sister."

"You're leaving me for you sister? That's...well that's just not right."

Fenris shook his head and his mood turned sombre again, "I never mentioned it but when we ran into Hadriana and Esperance three years ago, Hadriana told me that I had a sister, before I killed her. She told me where to look, and I got Varric's help. I ...felt it necessary to keep it quiet, but i eventually contacted Varania and sent her enough coin to come meet me. And now she's here."

Ignoring the fact that Fenris never told him any of this, Nero asked where she was.

"She was working for Magister Ahriman in Qarinus but left his service and I found her in Minrathous, that made things more difficult. Getting a letter to her was hard, and she didn't believe me at first, but she's finally come."

Nero frowned, "how is she here? Isn't she a slave?"

"No, she's a servant, a tailor in fact."

"Oh, I see..." Nero said quietly and looked away, unsure what to say next.

Fenris looked to the floor and shuffled his feet, he suddenly felt ridiculously guilty for never mentioning any of this to Nero...but it wasn't as though he had gone out of his way to make sure Nero didn't know, he just...

"I didn't mention it because I felt like...if i mentioned it then i would get my hopes up when it could turn out to be nothing, so I tried as best I could to keep it to myself." He explained.

Nero nodded and approached the elf, he was still a little hurt by it, but he could sort of understand. He walked around the table to sit on it in front of the elf and said, "it's alright, talking about things hasn't always been your strong suit." Fenris gave a small, though still guilty, smile, "are you worried that Denarius knows about your sister coming here?"

Fenris sighed and leaned forward, setting his hands on the table on either side of Nero and resting his forehead on the other man's shoulder, "the more it seems Denarius doesn't know, the more certain I become he does. It's driving me mad. I can see him using this as an opportunity to ambush me, he probably couldn't fathom that i would worry about him knowing about her presence. He's always thought I was an idiot."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to gather as many people as I can and go see her. She'll be at the Hanged Man during the day for the next week, at least. And if Denarius has tailed her then we'll kill him."

"Sounds like a plan, why don't we ask who is available today and see her tomorrow?"

"I would like to get this done with as soon as possible."

Nero smiled into the elf's hair, "I know, but we'll be able to get more help if we tell them its tomorrow, as opposed to today."

Fenris sighed and stood up, "alright. Let's go."

...

Luckily they had been able to get just about everyone to join them. Varric and Isabela stayed in the Hanged Man, as their presence wouldn't arouse any suspicion, and watch for signs of the Magister. And Sebastian, Aveline, Hawke, and Merril joined Fenris and Nero at the mansion before they all left for the tavern. Anders hadn't even been home when Nero opened the door with his own key, after knocking for twenty minutes. He wondered what trouble the healer was getting himself up to, but decided to ignore that train of thought. He couldn't do anything about it, short of turning the man over to the templars, and he wasn't about to do that.

When they entered the Hanged Man Fenris lead them strait to a center table, where a redheaded woman was sitting by herself. Nero took a moment to try and see if she and Fenris resembled each other, but he couldn't see it. _Sure, the eyes are the same color, but that doesn't really mean much._ _Maybe if we stuck all that dark makeup on Fenris...oh he'd kill me for even thinking that, _Nero thought with a mental chuckle.

"It really is you." the red-headed elf said. _Ah there it is, they both have deep voices, very nice._

"Varania?" Fenris questioned, flashes of memories from his childhood assaulted him and he said slowly."I...I remember you. We played in our master's courtyard while Mother worked. You called me-"

"Leto. That's your name." Varania said as she stood.

Nero scowled, Varania wasn't looking at her long lost brother...and she didn't seem very happy. Something was dangerously amiss.

Fenris must have sensed this as well, "what's wrong?" He asked, "Why are you so-"

"You were right, this is a trap." Nero told him.

"Ah my little Fenris, predictable as always."

Fenris cringed but raised his eyes to see Denarius descending the stairs with mercenaries in tow.

"I'm sorry it came to this, Leto." his sister said, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"You led him here!" Fenris spat, rage quickly enveloped him and he clenched his fists in an effort to control some of it.

"Now, now Fenris. Don't blame your sister, she did what any good Imperial citizen should." Denarius said arrogantly as he stood beside the red-headed elf.

"I never wanted these filthy markings, Denarius. But I wont let you kill me to get them!" Fenris snarled.

"Oh, how little you know, my pet." Denarius chuckled before catching site of Hawke, "and this is your new master, then? The Champion of Kirkwall? Impressive."

"Fenris doesn't _belong_ to anyone." Hawke said.

"Do I detect a note of jealousy? It's not surprising. The lad is rather skilled isn't he?" Denarius laughed, "and what is this, you have the Archon's slave as well? He wasn't too bad either."

Fenris positively seethed at this, "shut your mouth, Denarius!"

Denarius sighed, "it's 'master'. You weren't always this way, Fenris. Once upon a time you had affection for me. I remember it fondly."

"Sounds like somebody has a crush." Nero said before narrowing his eyes, "you will not take him this time, however."

Denarius simply smiled at him, "I think I will, I am not alone you see."

The magister directed his gaze to the top of the stairs, where Esperance stood. She descended the stairs slowly, a cruel smile on her face.

"Nero, so nice to see you again." she said gently, and stopped to stand beside Denarius, who seemed overjoyed to have her with him.

Nero scowled and turned his attention to Denarius, "I suppose you must be elated, to have such a high member of Tevinter society willing to dirty herself by standing next to you." he spat.

Anger flooded the magister and he raised his staff, readying a spell, to put the slave in his place, when Esperance put a hand on his arm to stop him, "now now, there are better ways of punishing him for such insolence. I'll show you." She smiled and waved her hand in front of herself.

Nero furrowed his brow in confusion for half a second before he was on the floor. It was as if he was passed exhaustion, he was so tired that he was struggling to keep his eyes open. He could barely hear people talking around him, and everything he saw was blurred so terribly that he could only recognize people by their hair and the color of their clothes. His eyelids fluttered as he struggled to hear what was being said, and he could faintly feel somebodies hands on him. Then he was being turned over and he was facing the ceiling. Aveline's red hair came into view and he tried to reassure her he was alright, but couldn't move his lips. It was then he realized that he was too weak to move anything at all, he couldn't even twitch a finger. Terror seized him and he couldn't breathe. He struggled for several seconds before he realized that he needed to calm down, he wasn't able to move his chest fast enough to keep himself breathing in such a panicked state, so he focused all of his attention on breathing slowly and as deeply as he could. He still felt like he wasn't getting enough air, it wasn't long after that he passed out.

Fenris watched, stricken, as Nero fell to the ground and lay motionless. He gaped and terror seized his chest, _they've killed him, they've fucking killed him! _his mind screamed. But he was too stunned to bend down and check to see if Nero still had a pulse, and he could only watch as Aveline knelt next to him and placed her fingers on his neck.

"He still lives, i wouldn't come all the way here myself just to kill him." Esperance chuckled, "it's a simple control of the river, he was made to live off of it, so if i prevent the essence from flowing into him, he becomes almost..catatonic. It's quite a convenient method of controlling him."

Merril gasped, "how did you do that? No one can control the river like that!"

"Oh, I didn't see you there, you are Dalish as well? Of course you are. You look just like my sister, you must be her daughter." Esperance rolled her eyes, clearly she held no love for her sister, or her progeny, "nice to meet you. And to answer your question, _I_ can control the river like that. How else do you think the man was created? It took many years of practice before i could control it so well, mind you, but it was enough. I guided the river into him, and gave him life. Such a beautiful child, isn't he?" She smiled at the unconscious man, "the only person that can control the river better than I can is him."

While she was speaking Varric was on the landing, loading his crossbow, just as she finished her speech he let loose his arrow and punctured her in the back of the head. The arrow pierced her with such force that it came out just under her left eye and she looked at them, terrified, for a half a second before she too fell to the ground. Any patrons that had remained when all of the armed men began to speak left, and everyone else looked up at Varric.

The dwarf shrugged, "she talks too damned much."

Aveline opened Nero's eyes, she was pleased to see that they seemed to be turning less blue and more purple, and she looked up to tell the others, only to see one of Denarius' mercenaries load a bow and aim it for Varric. She hollered and caught Varric's attention, he followed the direction she was pointing and barely had time to hide behind the wall before the archer fired the arrow.

"Imbecile!" Denarius said, and slapped the man on the back of the head.

The rest of the mercenaries pulled free their weapons and were ready when Hawke, Aveline and Isabela ran at them. Sebastian and Merrill hung back, shooting off arrows and spells while Varric ran down the stairs and grabbed Nero by the foot, to drag him behind the bar. He knocked another arrow, and shot it over the bar before ducking down and loading another. Between shots he also checked to see how Nero was doing and was glad to find Nero breathing deeper and his fingers twitching as little moans escaped his lips.

On the other side of the room Denarius was making his way past the fighting crowd and towards the door, intending to get away. He had his hand on the handle and was just pulling it open when a spiky, gauntleted hand slammed the door shut. Denarius felt as though time turned to mud as he turned to look at Fenris, whose eyes were dark with a maliciousness and deadly rage that he was certain he had never seen before, especially aimed at himself.

He brought himself to his full height so that he was looking down at the elf and when he spoke he put as much confidence in his voice as he could, even though he was deathly afraid of his slave, "come now, Fenris, my pet, you were so eager to come home last time. Until that, that...monster interfered."

Fenris growled and grabbed the magister by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the wall, causing his staff to fall to the floor with a clatter.  
"That '_monster'_ is more of a man than you could even imagine being." Fenris snapped, no small amount of loathing in his voice.

"Put me down, my little wolf. You should know better than to treat your master like this." Denarius said, hoping that his order would drive the elf to obey, even if just by instinct. He was disappointed to learn it would not.

"I have no master." Fenris snapped before sinking his fist into the magister's chest and letting his fingers wrap loosely around his heart.

Denarius gasped and cried out in agony. The pain, it burned, he just wanted it to stop. "please, Fenris, let me go, I'll leave you alone, I'll never come after you again. I'll-"

"Maybe once, i would have considered it." Fenris told him before crushing the heart in his hand and watching the light fade out of the magisters eyes, "I am not that man any more." he said as he let Denarius' corpse call the floor.

He turned to face the others, who had already finished off the mercenaries that Denarius had brought with them. He couldn't look any of them in the eyes, he felt...ashamed. That they had heard the things Denarius had said, Fenris knew they would draw their own conclusions, and they would be right. He felt guilty for bringing them all here and putting them at risk because he wanted to meet his sister..._his sister_!He raised his eyes and searched the room, quickly finding her cowering in a corner, he stormed up to her.

"I had no choice, Leto." she said.

"Stop calling me that." Fenris snapped.

"He was going to make me his apprentice. I would have been a magister!" She said.

"Your a mage? I shouldn't be surprised then, your kind are always conniving, lying, snakes. How could you sell out your own brother to become a magister?" Fenris snarled.

"You have no idea what we went through. What I've had to do since mother died. This was my only chance!" she told him.

His lyrium burns flared with his rage, "and now you have no chance at all!' he told her as he approached.

"Stop!" Nero said.

Fenris turned slowly, shock obvious on his face, "Nero, you're...alright?"

Nero gave him a weak smile from where he was leaning against the bar, "tired, but for the most part unharmed."

Fenris furrowed his brow, "why should i spare her? She almost had all of us killed."

"Shes as much a victim of Tevinter as either you or me, Fenris. What harm can she do now?" Nero told him gently.

Fenris frowned, a terrible feeling weighed down on his shoulders. The only word he could use to describe it was 'lost'. He turned back to his sister, "get out" he snapped.

She ran through the group and headed to the door, but just before leaving she turned back around, "you said you didn't ask for this." she said, "but that's not true. You wanted it, you competed for it. When you won you used the boon to have mother and I freed."

Fenris turned around to face her, a pained expression on his face, "why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Freedom was no boon, I look at you now and i think you received the better end of the bargain." She said angrily before leaving.

Fenris watched her leave, without really seeing her. He felt sad, and empty, and he couldn't bring himself to move. He jumped when Hawke put his hand on his shoulder.

The look on Fenris' face when he looked at Hawke almost made the Champion want to weep for him, instead he said, "lets get you home, you and Nero."


	19. Chapter 19

When they got back to the mansion Nero had wanted to stay awake, to talk to Fenris, comfort him. But he ended up passing out once he laid down on the elf's bed and it wasn't till several hours later that he woke up, only to find Fenris sitting by the fire. The same saddened expression on his face as had been there earlier.

He got out of bed and knelt in front of the elf, carefully placing his hand on Fenris' own. He searched his thoughts for something to say, but didn't get the chance to speak before Fenris did.

"I thought discovering my past would bring a sense of belonging. But I was wrong. Magic has tainted that too, there is nothing for me to reclaim. I am alone." he said quietly.

Nero frowned, a little ashamed that that hurt so much, "you are not alone, Fenris."

Fenris looked at him sadly and didn't speak again for several minutes. "you heard what Varania said, i fought for these markings. I feel unclean, like this magic is not only etched into my skin, but it has also stained my soul."

"You do not need to know your past to live, Fenris. It's obvious that you are not the same person you were then. You are truly free now, you cannot let this stop you from enjoying it."

Fenris frowned and looked at his hands, "i do not feel free. Knowing what I know now...it's like a cage all it's own."

Nero didn't respond for several minutes, how could argue with that? He did not know what Fenris was feeling, he never would. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"You broke free of your previous chains, you can gain freedom from this too." Nero said encouragingly.

Fenris gave him a small, sad smile, " i doubt...maybe." he sighed, "i am disgusted with myself."

Nero furrowed his brow, "why?"

"I _fought_ for these things," he said, motioning to himself, "I have been turned into a...a tool, of my own free will. I have killed people, horribly, for a man that i once admired. He was right, I adored him once, I adored him and he abused me, he took advantage of me, yet i continued to bow to his will. I killed innocent people for him, people that did nothing but help me in my time of need. I...I...venhedis." he sighed and put his elbow on the arm of the chair so that he could hide his face in his hand.

Nero waited for him to continue, and when he didn't he reached for Fenris' wrist, "Fenris..."

Fenris did not remove his hand, instead he spoke into it "I thought...back then...I had though...I had believed...I felt as though I loved him. I don't know if he ever truly raped me, I was always...ready...and willing. I would do what he asked because it was the only time he showed any affection for me. The rest of the time it was insults and punishment. He would convince me to do things for him, to him, in front of others, sometimes. Occasionally he would have me do things to them, and he would watch. Then later, he would say that he was hurt, that i would do something like that, and i would feel guilty and I would beg, and I would grovel and i would plead for him to forgive me. And he would let me, for hours, till he grew bored of it. Then he would take me and send me to my room. I believed him when he told me i wasn't smart enough to understand why he said and did the things that he did. I had wanted him...I had wanted him to..." He chocked and stopped speaking, his hand gripped his face tighter.

Nero's heart broke for the elf, and he reached for Fenris' free hand, entwined their fingers, and said "I'm sorry... you know it's not your fault."

Fenris swallowed hard and sniffled, "I know, but...now everybody knows and...it's like they know how weak and pathetic I was, how I really am."

"You are not weak, nor pathetic. You stood up to Denarius, you killed him with your own hands. Trust me. they do not think you are weak. No one believes that."

"Maybe everyone is wrong."

"Fenris..."

"If I was strong i wouldn't be so...so...whatever this is. If I was strong i would know what to do, I would know how to move on. For so long my life has been serving Denarius, running from Denarius, and then waiting for Denarius to find me so i could kill him. I waited, and I told myself, once he was gone, I could live, I could truly live as all free men do. But how do they live, Nero? With Denarius and Hadriana dead...where do I stand? What do I do? What is left? I defined my life with Denarius, he gave it purpose. And now...now..."

Fenris finally lifted his head from his hand and met Nero's eyes. Nero was unsurprised to find pain and grief etched on the elf's face, nor was he surprised to see red faintly rimming his eyes. He wished he could say something, do something, to rid this man of the pain that was crippling him so. But he knew that he couldn't, all he could do was listen if Fenris wanted to speak, leave if Fenris wanted to be alone, or stay if Fenris needed him there.

Fenris' eyes drifted to his free hand, and the lyrium burns on the palm of it, "even with Denarius dead...he has still left his scars on me. I will never be able to rid myself of his memory. There is an irony in that, that i would like to forget about him, when i once wished to remember everything."

"Do you remember? All of your past, I mean." Nero asked.

Fenris shook his head, "only bits and pieces. I wasn't much better before i was...branded with lyrium. I was still his slave, I still served him, I still idolized him. I was a good slave, I did as he asked proficiently, I worked hard for his approval. Back then he hardly spared me a glance, but i tried anyway. When he sent around word that he was looking for someone to be part of an experiment, and that he would offer a boon of whatever the winner wished...i participated. Both to make myself more important in his eyes, and to grant my mother and sister freedom. I felt that if they were free maybe he would think more highly of them, I thought they felt the way I did. I was so...ignorant."

Fenris frowned and motioned for Nero to move so he could stand, then he began pacing slowly while Nero stood by the fireplace and followed the elf with his eyes. Nero watched helplessly as Fenris grew slowly more agitated, the elf's hands began to shake and his face became even sadder. It almost seemed as though the light of the fire couldn't even touch him, he was so enveloped in his depression.

Fenris finally stopped pacing and took off his armor before crawling into the bed without saying a word. He lay motionless as Nero slowly approached and wondered if he shouldn't get in the bed with him...or was the elf's silence a sign that he wished to be left alone?

"Perhaps Denarius had always been right. Maybe I am an idiot." Fenris said quietly, "I had this idea, of what a family was like. Of unwavering loyalty and devotion. I had this stupid notion that my sister would be elated to see me again, and she would come to the mansion and tell me all about our childhood. That she would betray me, her brother, to become a magister...it's like she crushed every hope and dream that I had ever had. I feel empty, and numb...and...something else that I don't understand."

While Fenris spoke Nero carefully slid back into bed, trying carefully not to jar the elf. As if he was trying to get into bed without him noticing, he kind of felt like an idiot himself. He lay on his side and watched Fenris and his vacant expression that every couple of minutes would pinch as though he had been jabbed with a needle.

"I am a fool." Fenris muttered, "this world has nothing to offer me but pain, betrayal, and loss. Happiness is but a fleeting notion that I don't think I'm capable of understanding. What am I now? I knew what I was before, i was proud of it, escaping slavery was no small feat. My fight for freedom is done...i don't think i had ever believed it would be. I had this stupid notion about that too. I believed once I gained my freedom I would be ecstatic, i wouldn't have to hide anymore, i wouldn't have to look over my shoulder anymore. I could go where I wanted, when I wanted, without worrying if I would come back." Fenris squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered.

He hadn't expected Fenris to react like this either, not that he would admit it. Now that it was happening, it made sense. Fenris was in shock, Nero was certain of this. Only time would heal these wounds.

"I don't understand, what am I feeling? Shouldn't I feel some sort of happiness or elation?" Fenris asked suddenly, "for six years i wanted nothing more than to see that man dead. And it is done. What is wrong with me, that I can't enjoy it? When I think of him, and how he will never be able to hunt me down again I feel...sad...i feel loss?" He raised his eyebrows in shock and said, "I'm mourning him. I'm mourning his death."

Fenris lay there with such a bewildered expression for so long that Nero was almost certain he was frozen that way. Then the elf's face crumpled and he turned it into the pillow, to muffle his sobs. Nero wrapped his arm around Fenris and pulled him close, reminding himself of that night six years ago. The first time he had ever seen the other man cry.

...

Fenris was the first to wake up, Nero was still obviously exhausted from what had happened the day before and was snoring loudly. His eyes burned and his nose was stuffy and he had a terrible headache. He sat up with a quiet groan and flicked the blankets off of himself before heading to the wash basin to clean his face. When he was done that he dug through the armoir for a rag and left the room to blow his nose. He didn't want to wake Nero up and not just because he knew Nero needed more sleep.

He finished blowing his nose and returned to the room to stoke the fire. It was the only fire still going in the mansion and it was cold outside of the room. He would prefer to still be outside of the room, but he _hated_ the cold.

After the fire was burning strongly again he sat down in a chair and stared blankly at the ceiling, Nero's snores becoming background music that he barely registered. He let his mind drift and eventually found himself wondering about Denarius again. How pathetic must he be to feel sadness about the death of a person that he despised? The entire notion was twisted, what was wrong with him?

And the night before, he had cried in front of somebody again. He already felt weak and having someone comforting and pitying him as he broke down just made him feel weaker. The security he had felt before was gone, and he felt fragile and exposed and hated every minute of it. He glared at the walls of the room.

_I can't stay in here._ He needed out, he needed to be alone. He had been confined to this damned mansion by fear for far too long, maybe if he went out in the wilds, where there were no walls, he would feel the true depth of his freedom. Maybe that's all that his problem was, he had been a slave even while he lived in these walls, they were making it difficult for him to grasp the truth.

He turned to look at Nero, _I need to be alone for a while_. He wanted to go out to the forest surrounding Kirkwall, he wanted to go alone. He didn't want any of his friends to come with him, and he didn't want Nero to come with him. He could only hope that Nero would understand his need to be alone to think and grieve and get over this entire mess.

He waited most of the day for Nero to wake up, and already had everything packed when he did. He explained slowly and carefully, with words that he had spent most of the day rehersing, why he needed to leave. Nero nodded and urged him to go, but he did not seem particularly happy about. Fenris frowned but left wihtout any more explanation. Things would be better when he returned.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N I finished writing this act, there are 32 chapters, plus a little side mini story that I'll add when the time is right :P

* * *

Over the last few months there was always at least three people in the mansion, with everyone gone Nero felt entirely alone. Which he figured was probably not a bad thing, since Esperance had died he hadn't had the time to think about it.

He was a bit angry that he hadn't been the one to kill her, but at the same time he didn't really care. At least she was dead and he couldn't blame Varric for killing her. Although it would have been nice to see her die at the hands of that which she created, but things don't always work out that way.

Nero sat in a chair in the main hall with a glass of wine in his hand and stared at the wall. Why was it that Fenris was mourning the loss of Denarius, but he wasn't? He didn't feel any different now that she was dead...maybe there was a little relief that she wouldn't be able to put her evil hands on him again but other than that he couldn't care less.

Perhaps it was because he had never really thought too highly of her, not like Fenris did Denarius. Before he had met the Archon he had liked her the least of his three creators, but he didn't think too much of any of them, he wasn't going to be with them forever anyway, he was going to live in Minrathous with the Archon of Tevinter and he was going to serve him. In a way he might have grown to admire the Archon, but that wasn't based on meeting him or knowing anything about him personally. He had heard great things about the man from his creator's, and he was destined to serve him, so he had turned his feelings towards him.

Then the Archon shot him down and he was sent back with his creators, but even then he did not particularly like them. Macarius couldn't care less about him, he was always doing his other experiments, of which Nero did not wish to know. Krispen used him as a bodyguard occasionally, but otherwise they did not interact. And Esperance...she had been the one to start selling him to others for an hour or two, and the last three years that he had been her slave she had tortured and abused him in such a way that he grew to despise her.

He didn't think he was capable of even feeling the slightest tinge of guilt over that bitch's death.

He sighed and took a long drink from his glass. At least Fenris was finally free, even if he was deeply troubled right now, he would soon realize how far he had come. He wouldn't have to hide, nor would he have to worry about somebody breaking into his home to take him back to Tevinter, and he didn't have to worry at all about Denarius capturing him again.

But then...Nero still had to worry about those things, and if Fenris was going to stay with him then he _would_ have to worry about those things still as well. Nero frowned, who was he to risk Fenris' new found freedom because he wanted to be with the elf?It might hurt them both, but it would be better for them to go their separate ways. Fenris risked being killed or captured with him, surely if Nero brought this to his attention he would agree.

But could he do it? Could he look at the man he loved and tell him that they couldn't be together? Could he go back into true hiding and never speak to any of his friends again? He put them all at risk, every time they were with him. How could he be so selfish as to not realize this for all these years? Could he really do it? It had only been a few days but he already felt so lonely and bored that he could hardly stand it.

A terrifying idea suddenly occurred to him. _What about bandits and random slavers? Fenris could be fighting those out there, alone._He was suddenly extremely nervous and frightened, what if Fenris never came back? Should he go out and look for him? What if he got caught by slavers or bandits...should he get the others?

_Fenris is more than capable of taking care of slavers and bandits on his own, _he told himself, _I'll just have to wait..._

He was taken from his thoughts by a knock at the door, grumbling he stood to answer it and found Hawke on the other side.

"Is Fenris around?" Hawke asked.

Nero shook his head, "he needed some time alone, so he went camping."

Hawke raised an eyebrow, "isn't that dangerous? Even for him?"

"Possibly, I'm sure that Fenris is capable of handling anybody wishing him harm on his own."

Hawke nodded, "I was just wondering how both of you were doing, ever since..."

Nero put on a small smile, "yes well, I'm fine, its nice that Esperance is dead, but I'm just as enslaved as I used to be. The Archon is my real master, she was just annoying. Fenris however...he's been better."

Hawke frowned, "shouldn't he be excited that he's finally free?"

"I don't think it's quite hit him yet. He said he was having a hard time feeling free in this mansion, so he went camping to think and in hopes of realizing his freedom."

"I see."

"I..."Nero hesitated, but pushed himself to continue, "I don't think I should hang around any longer. I am a threat to Fenris, you, and everyone else. Your lives are at stake, if any slavers come across me, and you defend me, they could cut you down. I'm sure that once word of Esperance's death reaches Tevinter they will send somebody after me."

"Your going to leave Fenris? Do you not realize what that would do to him?" Hawke gaped.

"Well, I was hoping to be able to make him understand..."

"Even if he does...what good is freedom if he can't enjoy it? You make him _happy_ Nero, leaving, whether he agrees or not, would destroy him. And as for the rest of us, we're here for each other. Maker I put you all at risk more often than you do but do you think I should separate myself from everyone?"

Nero frowned, "No, but that's-"

"It's not different, don't even pretend that it is. I would caution against going through with this, but I can't really stop you. Just...I'm going to be mighty pissed off if you damage my friend for something this stupid."

"It's not-"

"Think about it some more then, I'm leaving." Hawke said and walked out the door.

Nero furrowed his brow, "dammit, Hawke."

...

The next day Fenris came back. Nero had just entered the kitchen and was washing his hands after a morning of tending the garden when the elf walked in. Nero turned to find Fenris wasn't wearing his armor, his hair was wet, and he was only wearing pants. He quickly realized that Fenris must have had a bath when he got home; the mansion was big enough that he wasn't really all that surprised he didn't hear the elf moving around.

They looked at each other for several minutes before Fenris grabbed Nero and held him tight in his embrace.

"I"m so sorry, I never asked about how Esperance's death was affecting you before I left. I was too caught up in myself, and I promised not to be selfish. I'm sorry." Fenris whispered into Nero's ear.

"It's alright, you were upset, it happens." Nero told him.

"It shouldn't have, I'm sorry." Fenris repeated.

Nero shook his head but didn't reply and Fenris pulled back a bit with a worried expression on his face.

"Nero..."

Nero looked at the elf for half a second, his thoughts of the previous day completely vanishing, before pulling the elf's face towards his own to kiss him deeply. Fenris groaned at the sudden contact and kissed back ferociously, turning the kiss from passionate to needy. Nero couldn't explain why he suddenly felt in inexplicable need to have sex with Fenris. Maybe it was a mixture of not having been near him for several days and seeing the elf without his shirt on, and water dripping from his hair, that had made him need it, _now_.

The scars from the dragon only added to Fenris' dark sex appeal. Nero refused to admit out loud that they kind of...excited him, sometimes.

During his time away Fenris had come to terms with what had happened with Denarius, and had assured himself that he was finally free, he didn't have to worry about the magister coming after him anymore. He had grown excited and had come home with a great desire to celebrate his freedom in the most basic of ways. He had, of course, worried that Nero would be angry with him about not considering his feelings.

_Evidently there is no anger taking place in this room, not right now at least. _

Fenris pulled away from the kiss only long enough to take Nero's shirt off before resuming it. He sucked and nibbled on Nero's bottom lip which elicited a moan, which in turn only made him more excited. Nero's fingers were on his chest and it wasn't long before his nipples were being pinched and he gasped. He pulled away to find Nero had a cocky grin on his face, which he generally only wore when he was pleased with himself.

Fenris chuckled and backed Nero up so that he hit the counter, "up" he said with his own grin and Nero obliged.

Then Fenris focused his attentions on Nero's neck, biting and licking his way to the other man's chest. Nero moaned quietly and, growing frustrated, grabbed the elf by the face to kiss him again while he lifted up his legs to hook his toes in Fenris' pants and pushed them down.

Fenris laughed, "in a hurry?" he asked.

"Yes, I need it, asap." Nero told him, a devilish twinkle in his eyes.

Fenris chuckled, it was a rare occasion that Nero wanted it so badly, and he couldn't help himself, he always had to drag it out. So when Nero lifted himself up a bit to take his own pants of Fenris put his hands on the tops of his thighs and pressed down, a sly smirk on his face as he pressed his forehead against Nero's. Nero groaned in frustration and glared at the elf, who, without using his hands, pushed Nero's head back and kissed him again, this time slowly.

Nero whimpered, but knew he shouldn't be surprised, didn't Fenris always do this when he was in a rush? He hated it, but at the same time it drug out the pleasure, so he didn't like to complain...much. He usually retaliated in the simplest way possible, by trying to get Fenris' excitement as high as his own.

So while Fenris was kissing him painfully slow, Nero snaked his arms around the elf and placed his hands at the top of his shoulders. He smirked before dragging his nails down Fenris' back and squeezing his ass when he reached it. Fenris shivered and pulled away from the kiss, but kept his hand on Nero's thighs.

Fenris knew what Nero was doing, he expected it, but, as usual, he told himself that he could ignore it. And, as usual, he couldn't. Especially when Nero kept one hand on his butt, brought one up to squeeze his nipple, and bit down on his neck. He groaned loudly and pushed Nero back so that his shoulders were against the wall and pulled his pants off.

Nero chuckled triumphantly as Fenris grabbed him by the hips and pulled him closer, and began searching in a drawer next to them.

Fenris furrowed his brow, "what are you-"

Nero finally found what he was looking for and held it up, "olive oil."

"Ah, clever."

Nero carefully poured some of the oil into his hands and reached between them to grab Fenris' length. Fenris groaned just from the touch and had to place his hands on the counter either side of Nero to steady himself. Nero slowly stroked his member, covering it completely in the oil, before pulling away and wiping his hands on Fenris' chest. Fenris frowned.

"I just had a bath." he said.

Nero grinned "you'll just have to have another one then, wont-"

Nero cut off his sentence with a loud moan as Fenris entered him. When Fenris was in all the way they waited for a moment, looking at each other, before Nero nodded for Fenris to continue. And so he did.


	21. Chapter 21

Varric, Sebastian, Anders, Isabela and Hawke were just returning to Hawke's estate to celebrate successfully completing a high-paying job when Bodahn handed Hawke a letter. After reading it Hawke gaped at it for a few seconds before speaking.

"The King of Ferelden wants me to meet him in the keep" he said.

"His name was Alistair, wasn't it?" Isabela asked, "I think I tried sleeping with him once."

Hawke gaped at her, "your kidding."

"This was before he was a king, and he declined. I'm not entirely sure he swings my way." Isabela frowned.

Hawke chuckled, "everybody swings your way, Isabela."

Isabela furrowed her brow, "what-"

Varric interrupted her, "well ,lets go, I've always wanted to meet a king."

...

When they entered the Viscounts Keep Sebastian let himself fall a little behind. He wasn't eager to draw attention to himself in front of a ruler that he may one day need to make an allegiance with. He was sure if another ruler found out about his right to the throne, and his intention to take it back even though he had had years to do it, they would be unimpressed and it might ruin future relations.

Even so he still gaped when he saw the man. He was so...so...attractive and masculine and-

_Oh Maker, give me strength to overcome my depravity._ He was sure it was his abstinence from sex that made him grow so warm and weak in the knees so quickly. It had to be.

He looked away quickly, and prayed that he wasn't blushing. As they neared the man he continued to look elsewhere, and when they stopped moving he looked all around the keep, the ceiling, the floor, the windows. And he felt like an idiot.

"Let me guess: that's your final answer?" Alistair was saying.

"You declare your Circle of Magi free, as if its your right to do so, and thus stir up every mage outside of your kingdom. What other answer did you expect, your Majesty?"

Alistair shrugged, "a 'maybe' might have been nice."

Meredith scowled, "I don't deal in "maybes". I deal in cold, hard facts - as should you. Perhaps when Ferelden next chooses a king, it will be one that takes his duty to the Maker seriously." with that she turned on her heel and stormed out of the building.

Alistair frowned, "well. That was awkward."

"That's just Meredith's idea of Kirkwall hospitality." Hawke told him.

"Really? Kirkwall brutality must rip the skin off your face, then." the king said grimly.

"This is the Champion of Kirkwall." the well-dressed man standing next to the king told him.

"Right! I'm Alistair, uh... King of Ferelden. And this is Teagan, my uncle. Sort of."

Teagan gave a small bow, "I'm actually Teagan. I'm only sort of his uncle."

"Say... weren't you a Grey Warden once?" Anders suddenly said.

"That's the rumor. Wait, weren't you...?"

Anders chuckled, "that's the rumor."

"Huh. I guess we get around." Alistair said.

"How did a Grey Warden become a king? Aren't we supposed to be neutral on political affairs?"

Alistair rubbed the back of his head and laughed quietly, "yes well...suffice to say that Weisshaupt is less than pleased with me."

Isabela pushed her way to the front and placed a hand on her hip, "so you're a king now? Moving up in the world!" she smirked.

Alistair furrowed his brow as he tried to remember who she was, suddenly it hit him. "Isabela, right? You look... different."

Isabela laughed, "don't we all? When we met in Denerim I was...on the run, we'll say. I'm easily recognized when I look like this." She ran her eyes up and down his body appreciatively, "I suppose borrowing you for the summer is out now?"

Alistair chuckled, "uh, well, I... your not my type?" he suggested.

"Oh? And what is your type?"

Alistair's eyes immediately shot to where Sebastian was standing, oblivious to the conversation, then he mentally cursed himself. If nobody saw that it would be a miracle.

"It's a secret." was all he said.

Isabela smiled knowingly, "I see."

Alistair coughed, _fuckity fuck-fuck_, he thought and turned to the Champion, "I was hoping we could talk. Would've been better timing before being emasculated by Meredith, but I'm not picky."

Hawke chuckled, "things are looking up! It's not often I get called on to meet with foreign leaders."

"I know you came here from Lothering. A Fereldan refugee that did well for himself, against all odds. I have to admit. I was hoping your influence in Kirkwall might be of use. Besides the Gray Wardens being unhappy with me, things haven't been going well with Orlais. Without a viscount here, however, there's only the knight-commander to deal with." Alistair scowled, "so much for forming an allegiance."

"You were having an argument about mages?" Hawke asked, referring to the conversation he had walked in on.

Alistair sighed, "yes, well, apparently I don't feel the same way about mages as the Chantry does. So we're in disagreement. That means they get nasty. They're like that. And Orlais...well, I'm sure you know Ferelden and Orlais aren't the best of friends."

"Mages have it better in Ferelden?"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Alistair pinched the bridge of his nose, "sadly, Its quite a difficult endeavor to convince people that not all mages are raving lunatics, so they have some leniencies, but not much. And the chantry likes to put up barriers when I try to offer suggestions on how to alter templar training."

Hawke raised an eyebrow, "aren't they in your kingdom? Why not just kick the templars out?"

"Ha! Easier said than done!"

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't try." Anders grumbled

Alistair narrowed his eyes at the mage, "I never said I hadn't." he sighed and returned his attentions to Hawke, "we'll see what comes of it. Ferelden had a Blight to contend with, remember? We're not exactly at our strongest. Besides, templars do have their uses. Not all mages play with teddy bears and healing spells."

Hawke shrugged, "what happened with Orlais? Is there to be a war?"

"I hope not!"

"You're more optimistic than I am." Teagen said grimly.

"Empress Celene is doing her best. Orlais isn't the most stable place right now." Alistair said.

"What's happening in Orlais?" Hawke asked.

"Oh, the usual. Attempted assassinations, uprisings, fancy parties with stinky cheeses. There are plenty of people who think we should resolve the differences between Orlais and Ferelden. But pretty much everyone else in Orlais has a hate-on for us, some Orlesians think it would be grand to get their lost province back, the Chantry is angry about the defiance of their rules in regards to mages, and the wardens are unhappy with both me and Darryn Amell."

"But Weisshaupt is in the Anderfels." Anders pointed out.

Alistair shrugged his shoulders, "I've heard that many of the nobles in Orlais are taking the problem with the wardens personal and are using it as another reason to start another war with Ferelden."

"Wait a second, Darryn? I thought he had disappeared." Hawke said.

"He did, he came back about a year ago and took over his post as Warden Commander at Vigil's Keep. The lad that had replaced him gave up his title readily, but that's a Howe for you." Alistair said with no small amount of disgust.

"Nathanial? A Warden Commander? Oh, I would love to see that. He isn't exactly the most charismatic sort, I can't imagine anyone taking orders from him." Anders chuckled.

"So, how exactly did Darryn piss off the Gray Wardens?" Hawke asked.

"Well your not really supposed to disappear for years on end without contacting the Wardens. They weren't too impressed, especially when he expected things to go back to how they were before he left." Alistair sighed, "I'm half surprised we haven't received word that the Wardens are planning to attack."

"Well, we won't let them swoop down on us, will we?" Teagen smiled.

Alistair grew serious, "that's right. Swooping is bad."

Hawke frowned, "do you really think there's something I can do?"

Alistair frowned, "sadly, it may be too late. Meredith got wind of my arrival sooner than I'd hoped. I was kind of hoping you would have some influence with her. There really needs to be a Viscount here, hasn't it been three years?"

"You know, with your help there could be a viscount." Hawke suggested.

Varric scratched his chin thoughtfully, "It's not a terrible idea, really. A lot of people would benefit from Hawke running this town."

"Namely, yourself." Anders said.

Teagan frowned, "that's asking a lot."

"It's tempting. But I'm sorry to say that my support won't mean much without the support of the templars. I suppose it doesn't matter. I was hoping to have your help before Meredith got wind of my arrival, but that's done now. What you can do is protect Kirkwall. It will take someone like you to keep it from falling apart." Alistair said.

Hawke frowned "protect Kirkwall from what, exactly?"

Alistair nodded in the direction Meredith had left, "you ask me, the biggest threat to this city just walked out the door. But maybe that's the ex-templar in me talking."

"Wouldn't a templar think that a Knight-Commander acting as Viscount is good for a city?" Hawke asked.

"You don't know many templars." Alistair laughed.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Side story found here: http:/www[dot]fanfiction[dot]net/s/8099717/1/When_Nero_Met_Tallis

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"Why would you go back in the deep roads?" Nero asked Hawke.

Hawke shrugged, "I was asked to go look for someone."

"You weren't even paid for it?"

"No."

"That's all there was to it, saving someone idiotic enough to go down there?" Fenris asked.

"Well, yeah. They were Gray Wardens, Bethany was down there too, so that was nice." Hawke said.

"What was she doing down there?" Nero asked.

"Well she's a Gray Warden isn't she? That's what they do. Also a group of Wardens wanted to go down there and figured it wouldn't be a terrible idea to bring along somebody that was familiar with it."

"Ah, so you found everyone then."

"No, I'm not sure how many were down there but we only found three people, including my sister."

"Oh."

Hawke chuckled, "we got to play with explosives though."

"Umm...that doesn't sound like that safest of ideas." Varric told him.

Hawke frowned, "why not?"

"The ceiling could of...you know what? Never mind." Varric sighed.

"I don't understand, what could have happened, Varric?" Merril asked, she had gone down to the deep roads with Isabela, Hawke, and Sebastian to find Nathanial Howe, and was worried about what could have happened.

"Well...explosions are tricky, Daisy. It could have brought the ceiling down on top of you or blocked the way out." Varric explained.

"That's terrible!"Merril exclaimed.

"It's alright kitten, we made it out alive." Isabela reassured her.

Merril nodded.

The group stopped as they reached the market square of Hightown, it was empty, as it was nighttime and it was painfully obvious they were the only ones there.

"And of course, there is no one." Hawke said, turning with a skeptical eye to face Varric.

"All I know is that it had something to do with you and nobles. Edge is usually very reliable."

"That's what you get for listening to someone named edge." Isabela smirked.

"This is normally when we're ambushed." Fenris grumbled.

"Why?" Varric asked, "Its not always an ambush."

Suddenly a number of people came out of hiding, a mixture of mercenaries and Antivan Crows. One of them approached the small group.

Varric, "Alright, maybe its sometimes an ambush"

"They timing these people have is incredible." Nero chuckled.

"And here is the Champion of Kirkwall. You die today." The Crow said.

Just as he finished his sentence a knife appeared in his shoulder, the group turned to look at the roof of the building behind them to see a tiny red haired elf with green armor. Nero's jaw dropped, and then he scowled.

"Tallis." He whispered angrily.

They watched as the red haired elf jumped down from the building and stabbed an archer in the ribs, the archer was facing one of his friends and when he was tabbed he let go of the arrow and it hit the other man in the face. Glancing to another roof she saw another man shooting an arrow at her and used the body she was holding to block it before throwing her knife at him. She hacked her way to Hawke's group and ran past them to grab the hilt of her blade in the Crow's shoulder and hold her other blade up to his throat and smiled.

"Kill her! Kill all of them!" The Crow screamed before she slit his throat and turned to face Hawke.

"Well?" She asked, "What are you waiting for?"

The fight was quick, the mercenaries growing frightened by the group of people quickly dwindling their numbers and many fled. Nero was trying desperately to make his way through the bodies to Tallis, he had the greatest urge to slit her throat, but she was on the other side of the courtyard by the time the battle was over. He cursed.

"And they say violence doesn't solve anything." Isabela chuckled as they all approached the elf.

She was kneeling over one of the bodies and tsked when they approached, before standing up, "sloppy, you'd think the crows would be better at this, they've been doing it for ages." she said.

"It seems only a select few are any good." Isabela smirked, "the ones that went after Zevran were just as terrible."

Hawke ignored her "were these Crows a gift from you? How generous." Hawke smiled, "but I don't really like birds."

"Oh, I didn't arrange this, but it's no coincidence that I'm here. My name is-"

Nero had enough, and threw the knife he kept strapped to his belt at Tallis. Unfortunately she saw it coming and dodged it.

"Tallis." he said crossly, effectively finishing her sentence. His hood had come down during the fight, and this was the first time she was able to see him properly.

She gasped, "Nero?"

"You didn't think I died in that basement, did you?" He snapped.

She took a step towards him, "you have to understand, I needed to complete my objective, they never would have let me back-"

"So you left me for dead?" He yelled, "I had trusted you, and you-I can't even- Maker's breath, did you even come back to see if I was alright?"

She frowned and looked away sadly, and he laughed, "why am I not surprised?"

"I'm different now, I would never-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Hawke interrupted, "you two know each other?"

Nero snorted, "I know her as well as you know anybody that would leave you to get slaughtered by a bunch of guards for breaking into their captain's basement." He turned to Tallis, "I suppose I created quite a good distraction for you, I hope it was worth it."

"Nero, I-" she said quietly.

"So, wait, what happened?" Hawke asked.

"We met in the southern parts of Tevinter almost ten years ago. He was a newly escaped slave, and starving, so I brought him with me to do a job, we ran into complications and...I had no choice, if I had tried to rescue him from the basement then I would have been killed as well." Tallis explained guiltily.

Hawke turned to Nero with a raised eyebrow, who nodded to assure him that what she said was true. Grimly Hawke turned back to face Tallis, "well, besides the whole knife throwing thing he doesn't seem to be trying to killing you just at this moment. And taking into account how surprised you were to see him it leaves me wondering, what exactly are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you." Tallis told him.

"Looking for me?"

"Looking for the man that has an invitation to Chateus Haine, to be specific." she said with a smirk.

"Oh, that's what edge was on about." Varric said, "you remember? Duke Prosper the one who fawned all over you at the Champion of Kirkwall banquet. He talked about a hunt."

Hawke raised an eyebrow, "I doubt I'd go to such a thing."

Tallis put on her sweetest smile, "I was hoping you would reconsider, the Duke is a delightful host. Or so I hear."

"let me guess, this isn't just a social call?" Hawke sighed.

"I need to relieve him of something he has no right to possess, and I cant do it alone."

"You want to rob him."

"Well stealing from Orlesian's is never wrong, or so I'm told." Varric offered.

Tallis frowned, and looked around them "this isn't how I was planning to ask you this, I was picturing an introduction...with less bloodshed."

"And what makes you think I steal things just because people ask me to?" Hawke scowled.

_Can't she steal anything alone?_ Nero wondered to himself.

"Well," Isabela said, "I would."

"That's our Isabela, such a giver." Fenris shook his head.

"I may have talked you up a bit, more than once." Varric told Hawke guiltily.

"Wonderful" Hawke muttered, shaking his head.

"What? It's not like I'm exaggerating, much." Varric shrugged.

"All I've heard is that you get things done. I'm hoping that's true." Tallis told him

Hawke sighs, "why not? I hear the Orlesian's make excellent cheese."


	23. Chapter 23

"Your kidding me." Nero gaped.

"What?" Hawke asked.

"Did you miss the part where she almost got me killed for helping her break into a house to _steal _something?"

"Well, to be fair neither of you mentioned that you were going to steal something." Hawke told him.

"I'm starting to believe that's all she does."Nero said grimly.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but last time it was just you two, this time it will be a bunch of us. If she tries to get any of us killed then we'll simply kill her." Hawke smiled.

"Great." Nero grumbled.

"That's...reassuring." Tallis said and turned to see the blade that Nero had thrown at her in the post of the stand. She plucked it out and looked at it, she was quite surprised to find a marking of a triangle with a star inside of it, the mark of the blacksmith who had made all her knives years ago. She turned to Nero, "how did you get this?"

"When you abandoned me to my fate you tossed it through the bars to kill one of the guards. I took it before I left. I've had this crazy dream of killing you with it." He told her sourly.

She blanched, "oh...oh my."

"So tell me," Hawke said, trying to steer the conversation back to where it was before "what exactly is it you want to steal?"

"A...jewel," Tallis said, "The Duke thinks its valuable and it is, just not in the way he believes. Whats more, he shouldn't have it in the first place. 'He who wishes to walk on water, must first learn to swim.'" she paused "come with me to Chataeu Haine, I'll explain everything on the way."

"Well, I'm not going to be able to leave right away, and I figure I might as well see if anyone else wants to come along. You'll have to give me a couple of days." Hawke explained.

"Ah, okay." She frowned.

"What?"

"Well, I sort of, don't have a place to stay."

Hawke sighed and instinctively turned to look at Fenris, the last time somebody had arrived without any place to stay they had dumped him on the elf, surely...

Nero caught site of the look and scowled, "absolutely not, no way. I'll kill her if she sets one toe inside of my house."

"Alright, alright." Hawke said, and turned back to Tallis, "you'll have to stay with me, but don't get insulted if Orana calls you master and Sandal doesn't say much, Bodahn should be fine though...he might complain a bit, but he always does that."

"Oh, uh, great." Tallis said as she bent down to start the laborious task of retrieving all of her throwing knives.

"Right, well, don't forget to loot the bodies!" Isabela said cheerfully.

"Do I ever?" Hawke laughed

"Do you really need to pillage the dead?" Tallis asked, no small amount of disgust in her voice.

"Pillage and plunder is half the fun!" Isabela told her.

"Don't worry, we'll have lots of time. It takes forever for her to do that." Nero grumbled

"Everywhere we go, people try to kill you." Fenris said to Hawke.

Hawke laughed, "you've been responsible for that yourself, on a few occasions."

"I'll fit right in, then." Tallis smiled.

"Man who would like to kill you, right here." Nero scowled.

"Maybe not then."

...

They were to leave the following morning, and Hawke and Tallis were sitting in the main room after supper, chatting about nothing in particular. She was alright, he thought, and he was a little amazed to realize that he seemed to find her sexually attractive. But he refused to act on it, he and Isabela were slowly coming to have some sort of a relationship and he didn't want to ruin it. Besides Tallis didn't affect him quite as much as his Pirate Queen did, they had kissed once, a real kiss, a few days before running into Tallis and it had some rather...unexpected results on his body. Isabela had considered it an achievement, 'I've turned a gay man strait!' she said. He could only laugh_._

He was a little nervous when it came to sleeping with her, he was scared that he wouldn't like it that much. But he couldn't stop himself from flirting with her, and a few weeks ago she had sat him down and demanded they talked about what was going on between them. It had been a difficult conversation, especially since he didn't know. He was, however, simply amazed that she seemed to actually _like_ him that way; he was fairly certain knowing that just increased his feelings for her. They had even discussed at lengths what they would do if they began a real relationship; they were both promiscuous, and they both had sexual encounters with the same sex, so they came to an agreement. If they began dating they would only sleep with each other and members of the same sex, and if the situation arose they would do a threesome...or foursome...

Ever since that discussion Hawke was almost eager to begin seeing her officially...but there was that damned thing where he was nervous about having sex with her. _Andraste's tits._ he mentally grumbled.

The conversation had lulled into silence, and he jumped when Tallis asked him a question.

"What?" he asked

Tallis giggled, "I asked if your family is from Kirkwall, I heard you were Fereldan."

"My mother's family is from Kirkwall. We left Ferelden during the Blight."

"Makes sense. Did you know the Warden?"

"No, but I understand he is a relative.

Tallis laughed "why am I not surprised? And they call you Champion of Kirkwall? Fancy title."

"The "Only One in Kirkwall not Completely Insane" was considered." Hawke grinned.

Suddenly Isabela came into the room from the back of the house and stood there with a hand on her hip, a small smirk on her face.

Hawke looked from her to the door leading to his bedroom, then back to her, "how did you-"

"I'm crafty, Hawke."

"Evidently," he chuckled, "Have a seat, we're just talking about...what are we talking about?" He groaned painfully when Isabela took is offer of taking a seat as an invitation to sit in his lap, she gave him an apologetic grin, or at least, that's what he was telling himself it was.

"We were talking about your title. Do you get a stipend? They let you rule the city?" Tallis asked.

Hawke grinned maniacally, "they gave me a medal. It's shiny."

"Are you married?"

"Well aren't you just full of questions this evening?"

Tallis shrugged, "It's just you're the Champion of Kirkwall... Big. Important. I don't know. I was just wondering if there is a little woman behind your throne."

Isabela turned to face him, "yes. That's a very good question, isn't it?" she smirked devilishly.

"Ahh, I see." Tallis said knowingly.

Hawke sighed. "well, it's getting late and we're heading out early tomorrow, I should go get some sleep."

Isabela got up with a sigh and Tallis nodded and headed to her room, Hawke wasn't far behind, only he headed to the end of the hall to get to his room. When he reached his bed he lay down on his back and spread his arms to the side. He wasn't sure if he was surprised or not when Isabela followed him and straddled his waist.

"I came here because I was wondering if you could tell your uncle to leave me alone? He's often... inappropriate." Isabela said.

Hawke laughed, "you find something inappropriate?"

"Extremely so! It's... rather repulsive, actually." She frowned, "please talk to him."

Hawke grinned, "but it's more entertaining if I don't."

Isabela gaped for a moment, "Hawke!" she squealed.

"You have pretty eyes." he said in his deepest, sexiest voice.

Isabela rolled her eyes and began to get off of him, "oh, you're impossible!"

Hawke chuckled but grabbed her arm, to stop her from leaving, "I'll see what I can do. And thank you for not breaking his legs."

"I don't beat on the elderly. And... I really don't want to touch him."

"Understandable."

Suddenly she began eying him with no small amount of lust in her eyes, "I would like to touch you though. " she whispered and put her hands under his shirt.

It felt as though the moment her fingers touched his skin he got hard and he bit his lip to keep from making any sounds. She lowered herself, letting her hands go further up to his chest as she did so, and kissed him. She went slowly at first, trying to remember all the details so that she could recall it if it was the last time she kissed him. She felt a fluttering in her chest and gently trailed her tongue along his bottom lip and pinched one of his nipples. It was the first moan that she had elicited from him, and she felt a great sense of achievement. _Note to self: nipples are a happy spot_.

Once she had squeezed his nipple he had decided to ignore any nervousness he felt and just do it. He wanted it, it wanted it _bad,_ and it was high time he got it. And when she whispered, "I've been aching for you" he growled and flipped her over, turning the kissing from slow and gentle to hard and fast.

Later he was pleased to find that having sex with a woman wasn't bad, it wasn't bad at all.


	24. Chapter 24

"There is a certain irony in the fact that I'm going with you to Cumberland again, Tallis." Nero grumbled. It was the following day and they were sitting in the dinner cabin of a ship heading east, towards Cumberland, where they would then have to hike up the most eastern part of the Vimmark mountains.

Tallis rolled her eyes and looked at Hawke, "did you have to bring him, he's got this annoying 'I wish you were dead' thing about him."

"I asked to come, I can't just send my friends off with you, I actually like them and would rather not see them left to die in a cellar because your prize was in reach but saving them would ruin it." Nero snarled.

Hawke clapped him on the back and looked around the table, Fenris, Nero, Varric, Isabela, Merril, and Sebastian had all agreed to come. He couldn't get ah old of Anders, again, and Aveline couldn't leave the guard, also she was in no hurry to visit Orlais.

He turned to Tallis, "so, you said you would explain when we were on the way and everyone was here?"

"The jewel we're after is called 'the heart of the many,'" Tallis said.

"Interesting name."

"Interesting jewel, all I care about is getting it away from the Duke. Here's the problem-"

"Oh, great." Nero groaned.

Tallis ignored him, "The heart is in a vault, behind who knows what kind of traps, protected by a private army of Orlesian Chevaliers, inside a fortress that was designed to be impregnable. And, lets not forget, its on the side of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded... by monsters."

"Piece of cake." Hawke told her.

"If you say so."

"I find myself a little curious..." Sebastian began, "why is this Orlesian Duke keeping such a valuable jewel...in Nevarra. Wouldn't it be safer in Orlais?"

"Well I imagine, Chantry boy, that he doesn't want it to be too easy for other Orlesians to steal it." Varric said. "Also, the middle of nowhere is not a bad place to keep something valuable."

"Good point."

Fenris sighed, "you are too willing to involve yourself in the affairs of others, Hawke. Each time you put yourself at risk. One day you will not be so lucky."

"You have a better idea?" Hawke asked.

"Guard what you have. Keep your head low."

"Like a dragon! Guarding my treasure hoard." Hawke said with childish glee.

Fenris stared at him for several moments, befuddled, "that's not what I meant."

"Shall I eat passersby? Maybe I can demand virgin sacrifices." Hawke said excitedly.

"Mmm, virgins." Isabela said dreamily.

Realizing that she was referring to him and how she had technically taken his virginity last night, he blushed. "Yes."

Fenris chuckled, even he wasn't so blind that he couldn't see that something obviously happened between the two. He was glad, for both of them, they were similar enough that he would be surprised if it didn't work out.

Suddenly Merril piped up, "Isabela, why aren't we on your ship?"

Isabela smiled, "I don't have a crew, kitten."

"We could be your crew, couldn't we?"

"I don't think so," Isabela chuckled, "it's not as easy as it looks."

"And she yells at you when you mess up," Hawke added, "she had me replacing one of the smaller sails and I don't think she took a breath between screaming at me."

"Well...you were doing it wrong." Isabela smirked.

"Then you should have showed me _how_." He teased.

"I did, you just weren't paying attention."

"I really was, I swear it!"

"You were staring at the ship docked next to mine and were ogling the shirtless sailors." Isabela laughed.

"Can you blame him? Sailors have the most amazing tans." Nero chuckled, then noticed that Fenris was glaring at him, "what? it's true." when Fenris continued to glare daggers at him he sighed and leaned closer to the elf so he could whisper in his ear, "you know I love your skin: scars, lyrium and all. I can hardly wait till later when we're alone in our cabin, I'll have you screaming my name into the pillow and you'll go to sleep with bruises where I pressed or sucked too hard and marks where I bit you." Nero pulled back with a small smile to see Fenris blushing furiously.

"What do you say to him to make him do that?" Isabela asked. "it's an amazing trick, you must teach it to me."

Nero chuckled.

"I, for one, would rather not know." Sebastian said, "no offense."

Fenris nodded but did not respond, which caused Isabela to burst out laughing.

"Maker, he's adorable isn't he?"

Finally Fenris scowled, "I am not adorable."

"Your a dangerous kind of adorable." Isabela said, when he continued scowling she added, "it's a compliment, Fenris. I'm not making fun of you...much"

"Oh look, Rivaini, you've made him start brooding again." Varric said.

"I do not brood." Fenris told the dwarf.

"My mistake then, elf."

"We've been down here for hours, I'm going to get some air." Nero suddenly said as he stood up from the table.

"Mmm, I agree." Isabela said.

"I'm coming as well, its too dark down here." Sebastian said.

They all followed Nero to the deck and leaned against the railings. All except Tallis, who got seasick as soon as a big wave sent her into the railing and she thought that she was going to fall overboard.

Sebastian found himself standing next to the Dwarf and said, "from what I hear, your Merchants Guild reminds me of the court at Starkhaven. Intrigue and gossip wrapped in a layer of formality."

"If Starkhaven was a tenth as bad, I see why you took to the Chantry." Varric said grimly.

"Fashion was the worst part. In the Chantry, I never have to worry whether doublets are meant to be fitted or padded this year."

"In Starkhaven, do they bludgeon you to death for forgetting the name of a minor clerk's third daughter?" Varric asked.

Sebastian frowned, "only if you're lucky."

"Choir Boy, suddenly your life makes much more sense to me."

"I'm surprised your parents never married you off, Varric."

"I was still in diapers when my father died. I'm sure he was getting around to it."

"And your brother never married either, right? Wasn't he concerned about continuing the Tethras line?"

Varric chuckled, "your family's dead and you're still celibate, right?"

"Well...yes, but-"

"Or has Hawke managed to talk you out of that?" Varric grinned.

Sebastian gaped, he always thought he was good at hiding that side of himself. _Varric is rather..observant, I suppose._

Evidently, Hawke overheard their conversation and sighed, "not yet."

"Pity. " Varric chuckled

"Ah, yes, well." Sebastian stammered before realizing that Fenris was standing rather close to him as well, "I hate Orlais, do you hate Orlais, Fenris?

"I thought the Chantry taught not to hate." Nero said with a devilish grin.

"I've never been to Orlais," Fenris said, "why do you dislike it?"

"You can't swing a dead cat in Starkhaven without hitting an Orlesian." Sebastian said, glad that Fenris had ignored Nero's comment.

"Truly? Starkhaven seems like a long way for them to go." Fenris replied curiously.

"The Minanter River flows across half of Thedas. Orlesian merchants bob in it like apples."

Fenris smiled, "I like apples."

Varric gasped "I think that's the most positive thing I've ever heard Broody say."

Fenris scowled at the dwarf.

"Yes, well," Sebastian said, "these apples will buy your sister, eat your house, and woo your chickens."

"They must be absolutely _terrible_ apples," Nero teased.

"Why would apples woo chickens? Do the chickens respond?" Merril asked.

Sebastian sighed, he had tried his best to ignore Merril on the other side of Varric, evidently it was a lost cause, "why do I even talk around you?"

Fenris chuckled and turned to the elven mage, "I hear there is going to be an Arlathvhen soon in Halamshiral. A large one."

Merril gasped, "a gathering of the clans? How do I not know about that?"

"Possibly because some elves are still willing to talk to me."

"You've been waiting to say that, haven't you?" Merril frowned.

"Maybe a little." Fenris admitted, Nero chuckled.


	25. Chapter 25

Fenris snorted in derision, "'Manservant.'"

Hawke snickered.

"Aww. Fenris got his feeling hurt." Isabela teased.

"Should be elfservant, if you think about it." Varric pointed out.

"It's only a cover." Tallis told him.

"I'd like to cover him with six feet." Fenris scowled.

"Evidently you haven't met many Orlesian's in your lifetime." Nero said.

"Evidently not." Fenris grumbled.

"I'm still surprised that they wear such bright clothing, and to hunt, no less. You'd think they would rather blend in with the scenery, as opposed to sticking out like a Qunari in an Alienage." Sebastian observed.

"Maybe they just want to stick out so others don't shoot at them?" Merril suggested.

"No, they've always dressed like that." Sebastian said, "pretentious lot, aren't they?"

"You must be right at home then." Nero grinned.

"Why are you always insulting me?" Sebastian demanded to know.

Nero shrugged, "no particular reason."

"I always thought it was because he was easy to insult." Isabela said.

"Well, there is that. And I think the Chantry is ridiculous."

"That must be why you get along so well with Anders." Sebastian said snarkily.

"Last time I saw the man we had a pretty heated argument, I would hardly say we 'get along' anymore." Nero frowned.

"It's for the best, I'm sure." Sebastian told him.

"Uh huh."

They continued down the path in silence, walking past small groups of hunting parties and their hunting hounds. Hawke kept an eye out for the two dogs that a man had asked him to find, saying there would be a reward, but so far he didn't see any dogs that didn't clearly belong to certain men. He sighed. He wouldn't mind making some gold on this stupid venture. He had already been forced to fight three dragons and a small horde of dragonlings, and even had the remains of one in a bag that Tallis had brought. And then there was the blood, that was disgusting, he wasn't sure at all where she got the jar that she put it in, but they had it. Tallis seemed to be full of tricks, she even said she would try to imitate the Wyvern mating call. He couldn't wait for that.

They had also run into a man that has said there was an old shrine that the Avaars head left in the area. Hawke had to retrace his steps to find it, the scholar had said that the Avaars were said to have left a great treasure there, for the goddess to protect it. Unfortunately he had also had to fight a bunch of cultists, priests, and warriors. Oh and the sky horror, that was a blasty blast. The damned thing was a juggernaut and was difficult to kill. But he got his prize, a dagger, a book, and a belt...it hardly seemed worth the effort.

Then suddenly there was a dog, when it saw them it barked and turned around to run slowly away.

"I think it want's us to follow it." Tallis said.

Hawke shrugged and let the dog lead them to another dog that was sick and looked to be dieing.

"Wyvern poison, I'm sure of it." Tallis told him.

"Well, that antidote we made will be perfect for him, wont it?" Nero said.

"Of course it would, but then there won't be any left for us." Hawke said.

"There isn't enough there to treat any of us...except maybe Varric." Tallis told him.

Varric scowled, "I heard that."

"Oh look," Fenris said cheerfully, "Varric is brooding."

"I am not brooding, elf."

Fenris smiled, "oh how the tables have turned."

Hawke sighed, "alright, give it to him."

It didn't take long for the antidote to take affect and a few minutes later both dogs were up and running away, back to their owner, no doubt.

Hawke shook his head at the absurdity of the situation he found himself in and they left the small clearing into a larger one.

"Watch out. There may be ghasts." Tallis said.

Hawke looked at the caves on either side of the clearing and said, "From a hole."

"Cave, technically. "

Isabela snickered.

"What?" Hawke asked

"Ghast hole." She told him with a grin.

"Maker's breath!" Hawke exclaimed, "something I can use so I can swear around children!"

"Why are we standing here and talking?" Nero asked, "I don't know about you, but I'm not eager at all to face those little creatures again. So, uh, can we get a move on?"

As they left the clearing, luckily having avoided the ghasts, Hawke said "for a slaughtering ground, it's actually rather pretty."

"The Montfort family inherited this mountain from a clan of Nevarran dragon-hunters. Well, maybe inherited is the wrong word. What do you call it when you kill someone in order to get all their stuff?"

"Adventuring!" Hawke told her cheerfully.

"You know an awful lot about this place, and wyverns." Fenris said to Tallis.

"It pays to learn as much as you can about your target if you want to get inside easily." She told him, "also, I read a lot."

"You know, my husband used to have hunting parties like this." Isabela suddenly said.

"I'd forgotten you were 's hard to picture you playing the hostess, taking cloaks and kissing babies." Sebastian chuckled at the image.

"No, there were servants for that. I just had to sit there and look pretty." Isabela told him, "if I got out of hand, he would lock me away with a bottle of wine and a dirty book. Told everyone I was indisposed."

"My parents used to do the same thing! Minus the wine. And the, uh, dirty book." Suddenly Sebastian kind of felt like an idiot and said, "you know, It was nice to see you in the Chantry, listening to Sister Etheline's testimony. I was surprised, but very glad."

"I was surprised as well, and not quite as glad."

"Oh? Sister Etheline's words always inspire me. Was it not so for you?"

"You didn't notice I was bound, gagged, and had a contusion on my forehead?" She asked him.

Sebastian gaped, "what?"

Isabela sighed, "just... don't ask for the "bad girl special" at the Blooming Rose."

Hawke laughed.

"Shut up, Garret." Isabela scowled.

"Oh, I'm Garret now? Is this something your going to do when you're angry at me?" He chuckled.

Hawke and Isabela continued to bicker, back and forth, as they continued down the path. After a time they stumbled across a large pile of shit in front of a small body of water.

"Well, I think we're on the right trail." Isabela said. Hawke eyed it warily for a few minutes before bending down in front of it and reaching his hands in.

"Ahh, looking for clues." He said with a sigh.

"Well thats fragrant. I'll be staying upwind from you from now on." Isabela told him.

"Aww, Hawke stepped in a poopy." Fenris chuckled.

Nero gaped at the elf.

"What?" Fenris asked.

"You just said 'poopy'"

"I did."

Nero thought for a moment before smiling, "cute."

Fenris frowned, "I am not cute."

"Not at all."

Hawke pulled a handful of bones out of the wyvern dung and Tallis inspected them. "Ooh, nug bones. I wonder if a nug call would help attract a wyvern." she said.

Hawke narrowed his eyes at her, "you know a nug call?"

"You go elbow-deep in wyvern shit, and I'm the weird one?"

"Well, we've got blood, bits of a dragonling and some wyvern kill, and you can do a mating or nug call...we must have enough to bait a trap now." Hawke said

"In the right spot, no doubt." Tallis smiled.

They continued up a path to their left and after a time they came upon an area with a lot of human bones and wyvern dung.

"What happened to the birds and ...everything. Uh oh..." Tallis said

Hawke kicked one of the skulls as they walked passed it, "next time could we hunt something small and cuddly? Maybe Vegetarian?"

"You would kill something cute and cuddly?" Nero asked.

"I didn't say it had to be cute. I don't think I can kill cute things."

"Isn't he just so sweet?" Isabela teased.

Nero laughed, "I don't think...whoa, this is a rather big clearing, isn't it?"

Tallis looked around and said, "well the trail suggests wyverns love this place to bits. if we're going to find one, it's going to be here."


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: when I mention Merril's dress its the outfit she gets if you romance her.

* * *

It was very near the time the party was to start, but they were still sitting around their campfire. Hawke grumbled about how they should have been in the castle, but apparently Duke Prosper had invited his entire family, and the rooms were all occupied. Hawke wasn't the only one grumbling, there were several Orlesian's in the camp yard around them, and they were both angry that they were camping, and that Hawke had killed the wyvern.

Well technically they had all killed the wyvern, but Hawke was the guest, the rest of them were just servants. None of the other Orlesians were as angry as Baron Arlange, the man who had paid to be the one to kill the wyvern this year. He had walked in on them just as they finished the wyvern off and had ordered his men to kill them. Fortunately, for him at least, the Duke himself had appeared and even offered to kill the nobleman. Hawke had said to let him go, but Nero had a slight feeling that they would be hearing from him again.

But so far Baron Arlange had kept his distance, he didn't even say anything when Nero walked right by his camp to go for a piss in the woods.

He was just coming out of the woods when Tallis stopped him, "we need to talk." she said.

Nero sighed, "why?"

"Because you keep looking at me like you want to kill me and it's getting annoying."

"I do want to kill you." He said blankly.

Tallis groaned, "that's what I mean, I understand, but it has to stop."

"Why should I?"

"You must have noticed that I've changed, I was selfish, I admit it, when I left you in the cellar. I shouldn't have done it. I still feel terrible about it. But you made it out, you're alright. Right?"

"I wasn't."

She looked at him guiltily, "if I could go back I would find a way to help you, I would never leave somebody to face attackers alone. Not anymore."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I liked you Nero, a lot. It's a testament to how selfish and immature and pathetic I was that I had abandoned you, and didn't even try to find out if you were alright afterwords."

Nero frowned and stared at her, she was wearing her formal wear, as she was supposed to be Hawke's date to this party, and it looked pretty good on her. But even if she was still attractive...

"I don't know how to forgive you." he said finally.

"Just, try to hold back your anger? Maybe if you don't keep seeing me as an enemy you'll stop thinking of me as one." Tallis suggested.

He scowled, but realized that he would likely be rid of her soon enough anyway, and agreed to try.

"Do you mind my asking...what happened to your ears?" she asked hesitantly.

Nero frowned, "i was kidnapped for being an elf and they cut them off."

Tallis frowned, "oh, I'm so sorry."

"At least i got cool earrings out of it." Nero shrugged.

Suddenly Tallis smiled, "so I see you are with the white haired elf? Fenris, I think his name is."

He couldn't help himself, and smiled a bit, "yes, I am."

"He makes you happy?"

"Yes...why?"

"You just seem to make him happy, is all."

He laughed, "how can you tell? Usually people can't."

"Small things, the way he looks at you when your not looking at him, they way he always searches for you after a fight, and there was the whole blushing thing on the ship." She giggled, "I got the impression not many people can have that effect on him."

He smiled, "I certainly hope not."

She turned and motioned that they should head back to camp, "I'm happy for you. It's nice to find something that fills that hole."

"How do you know I've had a hole that needed filling?"

"You were...empty, back then. Even when you made jokes your eyes were dead. It was as though you hadn't ever felt any happiness."

"I hadn't."

Tallis nodded, "I know, but there is life in you now. I'm glad to see that you've found happiness."

"Have you?" He asked.

"Have I what?"

"Found happiness?"

"Yes, I am content."

"I get the impression its not with a person." Nero told her.

"No, but that's alright. Not everyone needs the love that you have to be happy."

He frowned, "I hope not. It was hard to find."

She laughed as they arrived in camp, "I can imagine."

They split and Nero returned to his spot beside Fenris and Tallis sat across the fire next to Hawke and Sebastian. He watched, amused, as she seemed to be flirting with the Chantry Brother. _She's wasting her time_, he smirked to himself.

"I thought you wanted to kill her." Fenris said.

"I...promised to try to not hate her so much." Nero explained.

Fenris raised an eyebrow, "why?"

Nero shrugged, "I don't really know."

"Maybe he just has a weakness for elves." Varric said with a wink.

"Just how long has this wyvern hunting business been going on?" Hawke asked loudly, to get Tallis' attention, effectively stopping any other conversations taking place around the fire.

"It's an annual tradition the Montfort's began to keep the population down. They breed quickly." Tallis explained.

"Elves too, we're plucky that way." Fenris said.

"Well there's no annual elf hunt...yet."

"And the Orlesian nobility is only too happy to help out?" Hawke asked.

"It's a game. The Montfort's are close to the empress, so anything that pleases them is worth pursuing. Plus you should really try the aquae lucidius. You'll be seeing purple dragons in the sky for days." Tallis chuckled.

"It's forty crowns a bottle on the black market." Varric told them, "not that I've checked or anything."

"Of course not." Isabela winked.

Suddenly they heard a horn blaring, indicating the party was starting. It wasn't far away, just passed the tents and through a gate, and Tallis asked them to wait while she went in and looked around.

"There is one door not under heavy guard." She said upon returning.

"But there's a problem, right? There's always a problem." Isabela asked.

"I can't get it open, and believe me, I tried. Bent a nice set of lock-pick's in that stupid door. One of the Duke's guardsmen must have the key, they wouldn't just lock themselves out of the castle...I hope."

"Why else would the party be in the garden? He probably has someone else breaking a window right now." Hawke chuckled.

"I could make that work actually. But in the meantime, lets find someone with a key." Tallis said.

"We probably shouldn't all try and get a guards key together, the nobles might make a scene." Nero told them.

"We'll split up in pairs of two, you keep watch, in case something stupid happens."

"Can I go with Sebastian?" Merril asked, "I'm afraid I'll mess something up, I'm always messing things up. What if I use the wrong fork and stab somebody with it?"

Sebastian chuckled, "just complain that someone bled on your dress and you'll be fine."

Merril gasped, "maybe I'll just stay away from cutlery. I don't want to ruin the beautiful dress that Hawke bought me. It's white, blood would never get out."

"I can't believe that you actually convinced me to wear this terrible skirt, Hawke." Isabela said, picking up the long skirt that he had given her before they left. He had given her a matching corset at the same, and she was grateful that they were both black, but still...a skirt?

"I don't mind you running around in your underwear, but the nobles might. Besides, I let you keep your boots, bandana and shirt. You're still you." Hawke said apologetically

"Ugh, I feel so...so..."

"Modest?" Fenris provided.

"Yes, exactly. It's terrifying."

Fenris chuckled.

Hawke looked at his friends, they all looked relatively regal. Nero and Fenris were in their usual, finer, clothes; without the armor of course, Sebastian was wearing some fancy garments he had brought with him from Starkhaven, and he had even gotten Varric to tie his shirt and put on a dress jacket as opposed to his usual brown one.

"Are you ready?" Tallis asked him.

"No. Let's go."


	27. Chapter 27

Nero was getting extremely bored. The speech the duke had made when Hawke had entered the party was boring in and of itself, but thus far he hadn't heard anybody say anything even remotely intelligent. It was all rumors and gossip that he had no interest in. He glanced across the room to where Isabela and Varric were perched around a casket of wine. _At least Varric seems intrigued, I'm sure the story about all of this will be entertaining...if he exaggerates, at least._ He thought.

"I haven't missed these." Fenris said quietly.

"What?"

"Nobleman parties. Denarius used to host them all the time, when he wasn't attending someone else's. It was dreadful."

"Surely it was more entertaining than this." Nero said.

"Not unless you find blood sacrifices and magical torture entertaining." Fenris told him grimly.

Nero thought about the three years Esperance had kept him in her separate quarters, the part with the large, empty, blood stained rooms. He swallowed, hard, "no, I do not."

"Were you never invited to any gatherings?" Fenris asked.

"Not of this sort."

Fenris furrowed his brow, "what-"

"You don't want to know."

Fenris nodded and surveyed the party, again. Nero looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Oh, the elf was so attractive, he could barely stand it. He wouldn't say it, but Fenris fit in almost perfectly here, minus the white hair and lyrium burns of course. He stood with such pride and refused to hide his gaze from anyone. Nero found himself looking away every time a nobleman faced him, but that was more because he didn't _want_ to talk to any of the Orlesian's.

With a tired sigh he leaned back expecting the wall to be there. It wasn't. Instead behind him was a door, that neither he nor Fenris had noticed was open a crack. When he leaned against it he ended up falling inside and barely avoided smacking his head on the floor. Fenris turned to him with a raised eyebrow, but Nero was looking around. It was a relatively small room, and there were no other doorways in it. And it was sparsely furnished, even though it did have candles lit here and there.

Suddenly he got an idea and with a smirk he stood and motioned Fenris inside, closing the door behind him.

"What are you-" Fenris began, but was cut off as he was pushed into a wall and Nero descended on him, kissing him with such a ferocity that it was as if they hadn't seen each other for weeks. Without meaning to, Fenris kissed back. Their tongues fought with each other and Nero's hands were in Fenris' hair, tugging a little bit every now and again.

Finally Nero had to pull away to get some air, and they stood gasping and looking at each other for a few moments. When Nero moved to resume the kiss Fenris stopped him.

"Wait, what are we doing? We're supposed to be watching Hawke-"

"He won't miss us for a few minutes, Fenris. Besides, the others are watching him."

"Nero..."

Despite his misgivings about the situation Fenris couldn't help himself when Nero attacked his neck and began rubbing him through his pants. His fingers drifted to the other man's shirt and Nero pushed the elf's jacket down around his elbows so that he could better pull his shirt aside and focus his attentions on the elf's collarbone.

A few minutes later Nero's shirt was completely unbuttoned and Fenris was almost ready to climax due to Nero's hand in his pants when the door flew open. Fenris and Nero froze and slowly looked to see who had interrupted them, only to find Hawke gaping at them.

Nero sighed and pulled his hand out of Fenris' trousers and began buttoning up his shirt. Fenris scowled and shrugged his jacket back up and folded his arms so that it would, hopefully, cover his...excitement.

Suddenly Hawke seemed to return back to himself, "what are you two doing?"

"I know you aren't _that_ innocent." Nero said, irritation evident in his tone.

Hawke shook his head, "just...just get out, we need this room so Tallis can get a guard alone and steal his key."

They left the room and Hawke closed the door behind them. Then joined Nero and Fenris where they stood not far away, to wait for Tallis to enter the room with the guard so that he could guard the door.

"You couldn't have waited?" Hawke asked, "really?"

Nero shrugged and Fenris said, "I told you elves were plucky."

...

Eventually Nero, Fenris, Sebastian, Merril, Isabela and Varric realized that they had lost sight of Tallis and Hawke and assumed that they got inside the keep. Unsure what to do they stayed at the party for a few hours, waiting for them to return. It was only when a guard stormed up to Duke Prosper and said something to him, causing the Duke to grow angry and motion for the guards to follow him inside that they realized something was wrong.

They headed back to their campsite to put on their armor and arm themselves, shoving Hawke and Tallis' armor in a pack to take with them. Before leaving the tent they packed their stuff and hid them in a tree in the woods. Nero was quite excited that he was able to call the tree to get it to lower its branch so that they could hang their stuff from it, but Merril seemed to watch admirably after that. Without having any greater plan they decided to break a window when it was dark and enter the palace that way.

Then the grueling search for the two began. They overheard some servants mentioning that they had caught a Qunari assassin and the Champion of Kirkwall trying to steal something and had them in a cell in the dungeons. Nero gaped at the news.

Isabela turned to him and whispered, "you could have told us she was a Qunari assassin, you know."

"I didn't know." He whispered back.

They finally made their way to the dungeons, and, luckily, there weren't many guards about. They were walking around for about an hour before Fenris stopped them.

"Here we are again, for the fourth time" he grumbled.

"Fifth, I think" Varric told him.

"What do we do now?"

"Play diamondback and hope Hawke frees himself and finds us?" Varric suggested.

"I could try to guess the color of your underclothes again." Isabela grinned lewdly at the elf.

"He doesn't wear any." Nero told her.

Isabela laughed, "are you serious?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Nero smirked.

"Ahem, well, " Sebastian interrupted, "now that you mention it, we have seen that chipped cornice a few times, haven't we?"

"All right," Merril said cheerfully, "don't panic! Every other time I've gotten very lost, Hawke has found me."

"Uh, Merrill? I don't think he can rescue us before we rescue him." Sebastian explained.

"Well I for one give up! We've been through every inch of this place twice, and there's no sign of them!" Isabela plopped herself down on the floor and frowned dramatically.

"Or we've been through the same twenty feet of this place about a dozen times. It's hard to tell, Rivaini." Varric said as he joined her.

Isabela sighed, "we should have gone treasure-hunting in Wildervale instead."

"You're still upset that you couldn't swipe a drink from the party, aren't you?"

"Maybe...Andraste's granny-panties! I knew things weren't going to go smoothly!" Isabela frowned.

"Does Andraste really wear granny-panties? How do you know all these things?" Merril asked.

"I don't think anybody knows what Andraste really wore, Merril." Sebastian told the Dalish elf.

"Maybe you should start praying that we'll find them." Fenris suggested to the Chantry brother.

"I have been for the last half an hour. I could do so out loud, if you'd prefer," Sebastian said, "Blessed Andraste, Bride of the Maker, deliver us from this warren of evil."

Fenris eyed him warily, "In that case, maybe you should stop."

"Please do." Nero said

Merril sat down on the floor next to Varric and Isabela and said, "tell me a story, Varric."

"Right now? I don't think we have time, Daisy."

"Maybe a very short story, then? Please?" She begged

Varric sighed, "fine. 'When the cards turned, he lost.'"

"Oh. Did it have to be so sad?"

Nero snickered, "Makers breath Varric, don't you think we're in a depressing enough situation?" He teased.

Varric rolled his eyes, "alright, 'when the cards turned, he lost, but then he realized that he had not turned one of the cards and it turned out that he won.' Better?"

Merril nodded, "I do like happy endings."

"Makers breath." Nero whispered as he shook his head, _that girl is so strange_.

"We probably shouldn't linger here," Fenris said, "we might as well keep trying to find them."

"Right," Isabela said as she stood up, "Eenie, meenie, miney, moe..."

Sebastian frowned, "I'm not sure that's the best way to find them."

Isabela rolled her eyes, "we already tried 'pray for Andraste to guide us' and 'wander like drunken vagrants.' We are running out of options. Unless you want to find a chicken for an augury, we're going with counting games. "


	28. Chapter 28

Sorry for taking so long to post something new. Life got in the way and I haven't been writing much, I'm hoping to start posting more frequently again soon.

* * *

They eventually found Hawke and Tallis, just after Tallis had picked the lock on their cell. Apparently Duke Propser had known who Tallis was the moment he laid eyes on her, and had kept an eye on them even when they broke into the fortress. After the duke had caught them Tallis had told Hawke that she was planning to plant a jewel somewhere for him to find while she went off to stop her tutor, a Qunari named Salit, from sharing information with the Duke that would endanger thousands of innocent lives. The Duke had told them that he had made arrangements to lure them to the castle before Salit had even arrived; Tallis was furious about this.

After Tallis and Hawke changed into their armor they let two prisoners out of their cells and were forced to fight some colorful Orlesian guards. Then Tallis showed them a hole in the wall and they were in the caves where the the ghasts came from. Lots of the vile creatures had to be killed before they reached a bridge that went over a lake inside the mountain. There they ran into Duke Prospers bodyguard, Cahir. He took a while to fall but eventually they were on their way again.

"So, you've been to Orlais before, Isabela?" Fenris asked

Isabela shrugged, "once or twice. Spent some time in a prison in Val Chevin."

"But you broke out?"

Isabela chuckled, "broke into, actually. Getting out was the easy part."

"All to steal something magnificent, I imagine?"

Isabela laughed, "no! They threw my first mate in there. I'd always liked Casavir, so I wasn't going to just abandon him."

"Ah. And he is dead now, along with the rest of your crew?" Fenris asked.

"Him? No, I left him on the docks. The idiot."

"Do I even want to know what it is that he did?"

Isabela snorted, "the idiot got put into an Orlesian prison."

"You have a strange sense of honor."

"Shh, not so loud. I don't want everyone to know."

They continued walking for a few minutes in silence, keeping an eye out for ghast holes, when Isabela spoke again.

"So why haven't you converted to the Qun? You seem to know it well."

Fenris smirked, "and you know the letter of the law, yet choose to ignore it."

"Ah, good point."

"I didn't escape one form of slavery only to become slave to myself." He told her.

"Er, what does that mean?" She asked

Fenris furrowed his brow, "I'm... not sure. But it sounded profound, didn't it?"

"You're always profound, Fenris." Nero told him.

"To those that sleep with him, maybe." Isabela said.

"I don't think he's very profound." Hawke told them.

"Thanks, Hawke." Fenris scowled.

Nero rolled his eyes and leaned in to whisper into the elf's ear, Fenris was blushing furiously again when he pulled away.

"Oh, I love when he does that." Isabela giggled.

Tallis stopped them just as they reached two tunnels that lead outside, each going in a different direction.

"And there is the way out." Tallis said. "See, I told you I had a plan. It was a good plan, the kind that had an escape and everything."

"Well it's not a monster lair, that is a good sign." Hawke teased.

"So you could go, there are however, other options." Tallis told him

"Hmm, Oh I suppose there's room for a cot, but where would be put the dinner table?" Hawke asked with a smirk.

"You've been so reasonable since we were captured. I'm...hoping that hasn't changed. What Salit is going to do will harm so many innocents - my people as well as yours.. It's my duty to stop him, even so, I can't do it alone. Not anymore."

"You don't actually think you can finish your mission?" Hawke asked.

"Alone? probably not, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try." Tallis said, "some things are worth dying for."

"My my, she has changed hasn't she?" Nero muttered to himself.

"What?" Fenris asked.

Nero shook his head, "nothing."

"After everything you've already done, why would I help you again?" Hawke demanded to know.

"Because...I got your nose." She smiled, holding her thumb between her fingers.

Hawke raised his eyebrow, "the Qun taught you that?"

"If I were following the Qun I would actually have your nose."

Hawke furrowed his brow, unsure what she was getting at.

"I suppose that doesn't help. If I had my way you would never have been this involved in the first place." Tallis told him apologetically.

Hawke sighed, "explain what's so terrible about Salit's plan. I don't even know what it is that he is planning to do."

"I...can't. Not Completely, and yes, I know. That's a hard sell. The Information Salit plans on turning over to Orlais won't just hurt Qunari, however. It will harm anyone living in Qunari lands. Even the people who fled the Qunari, of any race, will be condemned to persecution forever."

"So this isn't just some political scheme?"

"If only it was." Tallis said with a shake of hear head. "I'm not here on some directive from the Qun, I came..."she sighed "Salit was declared Tal-Veshoth, but they didn't deem intervention worthwhile. I...couldn't agree. I had to try."

"Doesn't that make you Tal-Veshoth as well?" Hawke asked.

"No. The Ben Hassrath didn't order me not to do this, but here I am anyway. I was trying to earn my way back into their good graces. This probably won't help."

"Why? What did you do?"

"Its not easy being an elf in the Qun. You're not born into it like they are. I struggle to find that peace, that certainty. I know its there I just...keep falling short.

"Maybe you should take that as a sign?" Isabela said.

"I used to be like you. I told myself if I never cared about anyone or anything, I could never be hurt. Life would be fun. But it wasn't. There was a hole inside me. Nothing I did ever filled it."

"I can vouch for that." Nero scowled.

"Oh, that's too easy." Isabela scoffed.

"Not everything should be easy. Don't you wonder what it would be like? A life with meaning, with purpose?"

"I... have a purpose. I have Hawke."

"Lucky you." she turned to Hawke, "what about you, have you ever been a part of something bigger than just yourself?"

"Big things have tried to eat me, does that count?" He asked.

"The Qunari have a vision of what life should be like. Free from pain and fear and doubt. You see tyranny and I see caring, an interest in the welfare of all. Yes it could be better. But so could human indifference and cruelty. Or do you disagree?"

"No, you...have a point."

"Then help me stop this before it goes too far." She pleaded.

"What did you have in mind exactly?"

"Well, we could go back, maybe have some tea with the duke, get to know one another. Then just as he begins to trust us you put a bag over his head and we drag him to Antiva."

"No! Not Antiva, you fiend!" Hawke teased.

"Antiva's really not that bad." Isabela said.

"They make good treats." Nero added.

Isabela gasped, "have you ever had one of their apple, cinnamon and peach pouches, the ones with rich cream on top?"

"Oh Maker, yes, those were delicious...I had to steal them, but I think that made it all the more delightful." Nero said, drooling at the thought of them.

Hawke gaped at the two as they continued to talk about different desserts they found in Antiva, "anyway..." he said.

Tallis chuckled at Isabela and Nero, "or we could find out when Salit is arriving and stop him before it's too late."


	29. Chapter 29

"Wait, I'm helping the Qunari recover some priceless artifact? Oh, the irony." Isabela laughed.

"So you were the one who stole the Tome. Did you read it?" Tallis asked.

"In between running for my life? Of course I read it."

Tallis chuckled, "ah, sarcasm is one of the demands of the Qun, did you know?"

Isabela rolled her eyes, "no, it's not."

"So you did read it, then." Tallis smirked.

"It was terribly boring."

They were outside of the caves and had found out where Salit was from a Tal-Veshoth. They had also passed a couple of wyverns that appeared to be mating and had run into Baron Arlange, who tried, again, to kill them. Now they were hiking up a trail that was supposed to lead to a ruin of some sort.

And Isabela was staring at Tallis, hard.

"What?" the red haired elf asked.

Isabela counted on her fingers, "lies, betrayal, leading us here to die..."

Tallis smirked, "and you thought you could do it so much better?

"I would never... well, yes. I would. But there's only room for one backstabbing rogue in this party, elf."

Tallis gave her an apologetic bow "I apologize. From now on, that position is all yours."

Isabela frowned, unsure at what she had been getting at, "good. Just so we're clear. "

"I can't figure it out." Fenris said.

"What?" Tallis asked.

"You escape a life of servitude and oppression only to join a society of absolute obedience and servility?"

"I'm not oppressed. I serve because I wish to."

"In the manner they dictate. And on pain of death." Fenris said skeptically.

"You make it sound so senseless."

"Voluntarily giving up your freedom is senseless. Hmmm... Shok ebasit hissra. Maraas shokra."

Tallis giggled, "are you testing me? That's so cute!"

"Do you know what I said or not?" Fenris demanded hotly.

"You said, 'struggle is an illusion. There is nothing to struggle against.' But your accent is terrible."

When Fenris only grunted in response, Nero chuckled.

Fenris glared at him, "what?"

"Nothing, nothing." Nero assured him, letting himself smile when the elf looked away.

"So just how good are you with that bow?" Tallis suddenly asked Sebastian.

Sebastian started, "eh? There's been no complaints."

"So...if I put an apple on my head, could you shoot it off?"

Sebastian scowled, "considering what you've led us into, I don't think that would be wise."

Tallis sighed, "you people are so touchy."

"Not usually, I think it's just you." Nero told her.

"Well, I apologize for being inconsiderable." She said.

"Why are you so talkative, anyway?"

"I'm nervous, and stressed...I talk a lot when I'm nervous and stressed."

"Oh yeah... I remember." Nero said gravely.

"So, Tallis, what were you before?" Sebastian asked her.

"When I was a little girl, I liked to pretend I was a dragon."

Sebastian rolled his eyes, "I mean... were you raised in the Chantry? Among the Dalish?"

"When I grew up, the Imperial Chantry was the only option. They don't have much use for elves. Or anyone who's not a magister."

"Then they weren't representing the will of Andraste. The Maker has a place for everyone."

"So does the Qun."

When everyone stopped talking her nerves began to assault her. Would she be able to face Salit? Would she be able to kill him? Would she succeed? What would happen if she didn't? Thousands of innocent lives would end, she knew. How could the Qunari decide that this wasn't a big deal?

She shook her head and caught site of Varric and strode over to walk beside him. She was fairly certain she hadn't irritated him yet.

"Last name Tethras, right? I've heard of that clan." She said.

"Get out! Nobody's heard of clan Tethras." Varric said in amazement.

"My father owned a dwarven sword with a clan Tethras rune on it."

"Huh. Must have been Dusan. He was a smith. Tried to become Paragon, ended up poisoning himself."

"Really?" She asked

"He was terrible at intrigue. Forgot which goblet he'd put the poison in. Wasn't finished gloating to his enemy when he keeled over. I think the family always had a sense for terrible drama." Varric chuckled.

"Do you as well?

Varric snorted, "what kind of story teller would I be if I could spice real life up with drama?"

Tallis chuckled.

Varric sighed, "all right, Shivs, I'll admit it: I'm surprised the Qunari employ thieves. They never struck me as the subtle type."

"That's because you've only met the antaam. Armies aren't usually celebrated for their sneakiness. Also, 'Shivs?'" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, 'Shivs.' So, how does stealing valuables from a pompous Orlesian noble fit in with your Qun?"

"'The eyes don't own the light, the mouth does not own the breath.' Things are just things to the Qun. They belong to everyone."

"Even the Tome of Koslun? That was worth starting a war over." Varric told her skeptically.

"The Tome isn't a thing anymore. It's a soul, a purpose. Like Bianca, but with pages."

"And how, pray tell, does one identify what is truly a 'thing'?" Nero asked, "or do you just call what other people have that you want a 'thing' so that you can steal it?"

Tallis scowled, "do you really want to know?"

"No."

"Ugh."

They quickly found themselves in the ruins and were heading up a path that seemed to lead right into them when they heard voices.

"lets get this over with, Qunari. Before your assassins find us." Duke Prosper was saying.

"Looks like we're in the right place." Tallis said gravely.


	30. Chapter 30

A/n i just realized that the way this chapter starts out is kind of ...juvenile, but i can't think of a way to change it so...poop?

* * *

It was two months after the trouble with Duke Prosper and Tallis, and during that time Nero had begun to realize that he missed Anders. They had been close friends for years, surely it couldn't be completely over. So he headed out on his own, into the dregs of Darktown and made his way to the clinic, as he neared the door he heard the healer talking inside, to Hawke, no less.

"I cannot tell you how good it feels for a spirit to fulfill it's function." Anders was saying, "the waiting is over, I am finally seeking justice, and he's exultant. There is no ecstasy humankind can feel to match."

"Are you going to tell me what you did?" Hawke asked with concern.

"You are Kirkwall's Champion. You can better aid our cause in that role than in aligning yourself with me too closely here." Anders said cheerfully.

Nero frowned, Anders sounded...weird. And obviously he had gotten Hawke to do what he would not. Namely to distract the Grand Cleric so that he could sneak into the Chantry.

_Oh Hawke, what have you gotten yourself into?_

"You're scaring me," Hawke said, "you sound possessed."

"I am possessed! And it's never felt better! Even Justice bows to you for the faith you have shown in us. A victory for mages will be a victory for you."

"Right...I'm going to go...meetings with Nobles, and all that." Hawke said skeptically before heading out.

Unsure what drove him to do so, Nero hid as Hawke exited the clinic and it wasn't until the Champion had turned the corner that he stood up and approached the door. He hesitated before knocking, did he really want to speak to Anders when he was in this strange mood?

He shook his head, now was as good as ever, and was about to knock when Varric appeared behind him.

"Violet, haven't seen you in a while, how've you been?" the Dwarf asked cheerfully.

Nero tensed and turned towards the little man, "Maker Varric, scare a person, why don't you?"

Varric chuckled, "sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your staring at Anders' door."

Nero frowned, "I was about to knock I'll have you know."

"Right."

"What are you doing here?"

"Anders sent one of the boys around here to the Hanged Man to ask me to come see him. So here I am." Varric said with a shrug.

"Do you know what for?"

"No idea...why are you so curious?"

Nero glanced suspiciously at the clinic door before kneeling next to the dwarf so he could whisper in his ear, "Hawke was here a few minutes ago and I overheard him talking to Anders-"

"oh-ho! You eavesdrop now? You rascal, you." Varric snickered.

Nero rolled his eyes, "Anders is acting...strange. He seems ridiculously happy, and was saying that Justice was happy as well. Varric, he wasn't even this happy when he was with Bethany before. It's...suspicious."

Varric raised an eyebrow, "your not telling me something."

Nero hesitated and furrowed his brow as he considered what to tell the dwarf, he decided on the truth, "I'm sure you've heard about us getting drakestone, right?"

"Sure...what about it?"

"It wasn't to help make a potion to separate him and Justice...obviously. A few months ago he asked me to distract the Grand Cleric so he could get in to do something in the Chantry unseen. But I refused, because he wouldn't tell me what he planned on doing. I think he got Hawke to do it."

Varric frowned, "that is suspicious. He hasn't been around much either. Apparently the clinic is usually empty, especially at night, and the days that he treats patients have been getting progressively fewer and farther between."

"He's up to something, and he doesn't want anyone to know what."

Varric scratched his chin, "I think you have more chance of getting it out of him than I do. So here's what we'll do, I'll go in and see what he wanted to see me for. You listen in and when I leave you go in and I'll listen in to the conversation you two have. Then when you leave we'll head to your place and try to figure out what he's doing."

Nero nodded and stood, but Varric pulled him down again, "by the way, I've been meaning to tell you...Aveline said that while we were at Duke Prosper's a group of heavily armed men from Tevinter arrived in Kirkwall and were looking for you."

"Two months Varric, really?"

Varric shrugged, "I'm a busy man!"

Nero shook his head and stood again, motioning Varric to enter the clinic. When he did Nero sat against the door with his hood up and swayed a little, trying to look particularly drunk to any passersby, and listened in.

"Varric, I'm glad you came." Anders said joyfully.

"What's this about, Blondie?" Varric asked.

"Can't a man just want to see his friend?"

"Then why am I here and not Nero?"

"How do you know I didn't ask him to come here already?"

Varric chuckled, "I have it on good authority."

"Who's?"

"Come now, you know I never reveal my sources."

Anders laughed, "alright, fine. I asked you to see me here because I wanted you to have this."

"What's this, a ...pillow?"

"Hand embroidered by my mother. The only thing of hers that they let me keep when I went to the circle." Anders explained soberly.

"Why in the name of Andraste would you give that to me?"

"You've been a good friend, Varric."

"Uh-uh, You keep your pillow, Blondie. And may you have many more dreams of killing Templars on it."

"Well it's not that ratty looking is it?" Anders asked.

Varric laughed, "that's not the problem, I should be leaving though, things to do, people to see. You know how it is."

Anders chuckled, "Varric: the working man."

"That's right."

Nero heard Varric approaching and quickly scurried away from the door and hid, in case Anders saw him out. When the door shut without any sight of the mage he breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for Varric to join him.

"He really doesn't seem right does he?" Varric said.

"I know...why would he give you his pillow? Did you say you wanted one like it before or something?"

Varric shook his head, "it was like he was giving it to me as a parting gift...but I don't know where he's going..."

"Maker, this isn't going to be good is it?"

"We're going to have to keep our eyes and ears open, somethings brewing...I'll call on some of my spies down here, maybe they know of something."

Nero frowned and looked at the door, "I have to go in there now, don't I?"

"Well it certainly wouldn't hurt, Violet."

Nero sighed and quickly walked to the door and knocked as he pushed it open. Anders came from the back room when he heard the door shut and gaped at him for a few moments before he spoke. As the mage stared at him in surprise he noticed that his clothes were different, darker and cleaner looking, as though he had finally taken the suggestion to get them fixed. It didn't look too bad, Nero thought.

"Nero. I didn't think you'd come back here." Anders said as Nero strode towards him, "I know you don't understand why I must do what I do, but I thought maybe you'd support me."

"You never even told me what your doing!" Nero exclaimed.

"I'm trying to protect you. There's no reason we both need to hang."

"What have you done?"

"You know I can't tell you." Anders said with a shake of his head, "I'm not telling you because if you know it'll put you in danger."

"Anders..." Nero sighed and began pacing, only stopping when Anders spoke.

"Should I have told you the truth? There's no one in Kirkwall I wouldn't kill to see mages free. How would you have reacted to that?" he snapped.

"There must be a peaceful solution."

"No." Anders said forcefully

"If you talk to the Grand Cleric-"

"No.

"If Meredith steps down-"

"They see mages as monsters. They can't imagine a world with room for all of us. Maybe they're right."

"What does that mean?" Nero groaned, "Anders, you can't keep doing this. If you want mages to be free, you need to convince people your not dangerous."

Anders threw up his hands in disgust, "impossible!"

"All your doing is proving the templars right." Nero told him desperately.

"I've been telling them that all along! Mage after mage in Kirkwall turning to blood magic because its 'easy!' I always said they are their own worst enemies. But I never thought I..." The mage trailed off with a sigh, his confidence in himself wavering.

"Whatever you've planned there is still time to stop it." Nero told him hopefully.

Anders frowned, and sadness touched his eyes. Any trace of the happy mage that Nero had heard earlier was gone, "Yes, time. Maybe there is still time."

Anders skin suddenly cracked and his eyes turned the familiar blue that announced Justice's control.

"Leave. this does not concern you!" The spirit spat at him

Nero seethed, he hated this entity, "this is Anders' decision, not yours!"

"I _am_ Anders! You have given into sloth. You would stand by while mages are abducted and tortured. Go, Anders has no need of you." With that Justice released his control, leaving a confused and troubled Anders in his wake.

"What was I saying?" the mage asked.

Nero was shocked, Anders was usually able to see what the spirit was doing when Justice took over.

"You...don't know what just happened?" Nero questioned.

"No. What do- oh, I'm having more blanks in my memory. It's like the longer we go, the less of me there is. You were right all along, I should never have done this. I will see..maybe it's not too late to change things." Anders said sadly and looked around as if he was searching for something, "I think...I think I need to be alone, Nero."

Nero frowned, "you still wont tell me what your doing?" he questioned.

Anders shook his head, "if I fail...I can't, you cannot be involved."

"Anders..."

"Please, Nero."

Nero hesitated, but finally he nodded, as he headed out the door he heard Anders say it was nice to see him and he nodded his head in response. When he was finally standing next to Varric they looked at each other sadly.

"He's going to kill somebody."


	31. Chapter 31

The next day Hawke, Isabela, Merril and Varric were lounging around Hawke's estate when he received a message from Orsino asking for him to come to the Gallows, immediately. When he got there he was stopped by a mage who told him that Meredith and Orsino were at it again. This time Orsino had gone to the Chantry to appeal to the Grand Cleric, Meredith had given chase and it looked like the fight was going to get bloody.

Hawke had sighed and headed to the Chantry, running into Nero and Fenris on the way, who had joined them. When they got there Sebastian and Aveline were standing to the side, watching.

"What's going on?" Hawke asked them.

"They've been going at it for ages." Aveline told him.

"I will have the tower searched, top to bottom." Meredith said forcefully.

"You cannot do that, you have no right!" Orsino told her.

"I have every right, you are harboring blood mages, and I intend to root them out before they infect this city!"

"Blood magic, where do you _not_ see blood magic? My people cannot sneeze without you accusing them of corruption." Orsino spat.

"Do not trifle with me, mage. My patience is at an end."

"A wonder that I never saw it begin!"

Hawke decided it was time to intervene, "this needs to stop." he said.

Meredith turned to him, "this does not involve you, Champion."

"I called him here," Orsino said, folding his arms triumphantly, "I think the people deserve to know just what you've done."

"What I have done is protect the people of this city, time and again. What I have done is protect you mages from your curse and your own stupidity." Meredith faced Hawke again, "and I will not stop doing it. I will not lower our guard, I dare not!"

"Is there any truth to her claims?" Hawke asked Orsino gently.

"These are only her latest accusations, nothing more." Orsino said angrily, "and what if she does not find what shes looking for? How much further will she go to root out something that isn't there?"

"The Champion knows better than anyone how deep the Circle's corruption goes. I must find the source!" Meredith told the First Enchanter.

"You both set quite the example for your people, you know that?" Hawke told them.

"What other option do we have?" Meredith asked him sadly, "Tell me Champion, that you have not seen with your own eyes what they can do, heard the lies of mages that seek power!"

"I think she would explode if she went to Tevinter." Nero whispered to Fenris

Fenris couldn't help himself and snickered at the image, despite the seriousness of the situation playing out before them.

"You cannot use the actions of some to condemn them all!" Hawke said to Meredith.

"You would cast us all as villains, but it is not so!" Orsino added.

She looked at the elven mage sadly, "I know and it breaks my heart to do it, but we must be vigilant," suddenly she grew angry again, "if you cannot tell me another way, do not brand me a tyrant!"

"This is getting us nowhere, Grand Cleric Elthina will put a stop to this." Orsino said, turning to face the holy building.

"You will not bring her grace into this!" Meredith hissed.

Suddenly, Anders came strolling up the stairs leading from Darktown, "the Grand Cleric cannot help you!" he said.

Nero gaped at the appearance of the mage and slowly turned to look at Varric who was obviously stunned himself.

"Explain yourself, mage." Meredith demanded.

"I will not stand by and watch you treat all mages like criminals while those who would lead us bow to their templar jailors." the healer said as he slammed his staff into the ground like a gavel.

Orsino positively fumed, "how dare you speak to me-"

"The Circle has failed us Orsino! Even you should be able to see that!"

Justice made a flash of an appearance but Anders turned away from the Knight Commander and First enchanter, and this seemed to calm the spirit down a bit. It was then that Nero noticed how...defeated the mage looked, how worn and tired and guilty he was.

"Oh, shit." Varric muttered from beside him.

"The time has come to act." Anders continued, as if he didn't want to speak anymore but he had to "there can be no half measures."

"Anders, what have you done?" Hawke asked,

"There is no turning back." Anders said sadly, and then he tensed, as if he was expecting someone to hit him.

But that was not the case at all, he had tensed because he had known what was coming. Everyone looked up at the Chantry as a thick red beam shot through the ceiling of the building. The towers, the places where the brothers and sisters slept and the Grand Cleric held her offices, exploded as if in slow motion. Chunks of the building spread out, as if it had to move through tar to fly away. Nero found that it looked like a sort of puzzle, and all you had to do was push the blocks back into place to make the towers whole again.

But then the blocks floated up above the Chantry and swirled around the red beam, condensing itself so that it was as small as it could be. Just as the statues fell, and people began screaming in terror the red beam exploded outwards, sending the chunks of rock and the rest of the building flying. Rubble flew out all over Kirkwall, shooting through buildings and destroying them, killing countless people. Nero felt it strike the tree in the alienage and could feel the pain of the vhenadahl as it died.

The whole city seemed silent as everyone stood in shock, it was then that Meredith spoke, "Maker have mercy."

"There can be no peace..." Anders finally said, to no one in particular.

Sebastian broke free of his shock and fell to his knees, "Elthina! No! Maker, no! She was your most faithful, You most beloved. Why didn't she listen to me!" He screamed before raising his hand in a blessing, "blessed be the souls of the Maker as they ascend to Your right hand." he said quickly.

"Why?" Orsino asked as he turned to face Anders. "why would you do such a thing?

"I removed the chance of compromise, because there is no compromise."

"The Grand Cleric has been slain by magic, the Chantry destroyed." Meredith said sourly before turning to face the citizens that had gathered as well as the templars that had followed her, "as Knight Commander of Kirkwall, I hereby invoke the Right of Annulment. Every mage in the Circle is to be executed, immediately."

Orsino turned to Hawke, "The circle didn't even do this! Champion, you can't let her! Help us stop this madness!" he pleaded.

"And I demand you stand with us, even you must see that this outrage cannot be tolerated." Meredith told him.

"Why are we debating the Right of Annulment when the monster who did this is right here?" Sebastian demanded to know, "I swear to you, I will kill him."

"It can't be stopped now, you have to choose." Anders told Hawke, hoping people just wouldn't hear Sebastian.

"I...I could have...stopped you!" Hawke snarled.

"No. This had to happen.. The circle is an injustice, in many places beyond Kirkwall. The world needs to see." Anders explained.

"Elthina is not the Circle! She is a good woman, and you murdered her!" Sebastian snapped.

"You fool, you've doomed us all!" Orsino yelled at Anders.

"We were already doomed. A quick death now or a slow one later...I'd rather die fighting." the healer said.

"You're a murderer. The Grand Cleric, the mages...their blood is in your hands!" Hawke snapped at Anders.

"I know." Anders said painfully.

"It doesn't matter. Even if i wished to, I could not stay my hand. The people will demand blood." Meredith said.

"I don't want to get involved in this." Hawke said, unsure what to do. If he sided with the mages then his life in Kirkwall would be gone, everything he had worked to achieve and had gained in the last six years...gone. But if he sided with the Templars he would have to kill mages, people like his sister, he couldn't...

"You are already involved!" Meredith snapped. "you are the Champion of Kirkwall. Do your duty or fall with these mages. It is your choice."

Hawke hesitated, _oh shit, what do I do._ He looked from Meredith to Orsino, from the templars to the mages, and sighed "this wont be easy, but I'll defend you." he finally said to Orsino.

"Think carefully, Champion. Stand with them and you share their fate." Meredith said carefully.

"I can live with that."

"Thank the Maker" Orsino said quietly.

"You are a fool Champion!" Meredith said and turned to the small group of templars she had brought with her, "kill them all! I will rouse the rest of the order!"

"Go," Orsino said to his mages,"get to the Gallows before it's too late."

Fenris sighed, "and here I am fighting to free mages. It is a wonder."

The templars fell quickly, whether due to Hawke and his friends incredible might or because of their weakness, Nero wasn't sure. He preferred to pretend it was the latter. Even Sebastian was forced to kill the templars as they began attacking him as well.

Nero noticed, as they were fighting, that Anders was standing next to a crate against the wall, watching, but clearly not seeing. Nero made sure to kill any templars that tried to have a go at the healer, he knew that Anders would be unable to defend himself right now - if he even wanted to.

"So its come to this," Orsino sighed, "I don't know if we can win this war, Champion, but...thank you. I will leave your...friend for you to deal with. I must return to the gallows. Meet me there as soon as you can."

When the first enchanter was gone Hawke strode to where Anders was sitting on a crate, head in his hands.

"There's nothing you can say that I haven't already said to myself." the mage said, "Vengeance..took me over. I couldn't stop him. Justice once told me that Demons are just spirits perverted by their desires. I made my friend a demon and he did this."

"Do not hide behind your spirit! It was you who did this!" Sebastian snarled.

"Maybe Sebastian is right. Kill me now before there is nothing of me left." Anders said quietly, the pain of what he had done surrounding him like a black cloud.

"I'm sorry." Hawke said sadly as he pulled a knife from his belt.

"Wait!" Nero yelled as he approached Hawke. "I'll...I'll do it. He was once a good man, he doesn't deserve to die in front of an audience."

Hawke looked at him tiredly and flicked his gaze to Sebastian.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." the prince said.

Hawke rolled his eyes, "fine." he handed his knife to Nero, since he had left his own with Tallis, and bent down to whisper, "make it as painless as you can."

Nero nodded and pulled Anders to his feet. The mage was so lost in the devastation of what he had done that he could barely support himself and had to lean on Nero as he lead them around the corner and down some stairs. It was only when they were out of sight of the others that Nero urged Anders to move faster.

"C'mon, move." he said.

Anders frowned, "why?"

"Because I have to get you out of here, that's why, you git." Nero snapped.

Anders stopped in his tracks, "no, I deserve to die, it should be done."

Nero grabbed Anders by the coat and began dragging him, "I can fix this, I can fix you. I just need to get you somewhere safe and then I'll get rid of Justice, or Vengeance, whoever. You will not be a martyr."

"Nero-"

"Anders, Nero! Whats going on?" they heard a familiar voice say.

They looked up to find Bethany approaching them.

"Bethany!" Nero gasped.

Anders froze, _not likes this, I don't want her to see me like this. Oh...fuck._

"There was an explosion?" Bethany asked when she reached them, then she looked at Anders "Oh, maker! Is he hurt?"

"Not physically," Nero told her, "but we have to get him out of here, out of Kirkwall, without anyone knowing. Will you help me?"

She nodded, "but why? What happened."

"It's a long story...I'll come with you to help get him out of the city, but then I'll have to leave you and get back to the others. I told them I was going to kill Anders and I must make them believe it."

Bethany blanched, "what is going- where will I take him?"

"I don't know a cave, an abandoned house-no! The Wardens! Would they take him, would they protect him?"

Bethany furrowed her brow, "I don't know, my cousin is back and he always seemed fond of Anders, _and _he's Warden Commander again. If he can't hide Anders I'm sure that he'll tell me where I can take him."

"Good, do that. When things have died down and you have a secure hiding place, send me a message, and I'll come. I think i can get rid of Justice." Nero said quickly.

"Really? How?"

"It's a long story. They're going to be looking for him Bethany, and they're going to kill him on sight I'm sure. Where will i message if I need to get a hold of you?" Nero asked.

"Vigil's Keep in Ferelden. Even if the Warden's can't protect him it's still safest to keep him in Ferelden...or Tevinter, but I'd really rather not go there."


	32. Chapter 32

A month later and the city sat in ruins, with no Viscount and not a mage left in it's tower. Cullen had taken over post as Knight Commander and as such he was the highest authority in the city, but it was straining him. They were planning a for vote in a few months, so that they could elect a new Viscount.

Nero heard plenty of rumors about people suggesting Aveline for the job, but after visiting her he found out that she would kill _not_ to have it. Ever since the Viscount had been murdered three, almost four, years earlier she had had a lot on her plate as several of the more civil matters were brought to her instead of the Knight-Commander. She worked herself to the point of exhaustion and beyond, and even though she loved her job she looked forward to the election so that it wouldn't be so...stressful anymore.

So far only a few people had opted to join the running for the seat. A few nobleman of hardly any merit and Seneschal Bran. Nero had decided to vote for Seneschal Bran, for Aveline's sake...and because the man was probably more familiar with the inner workings of the city than the nobleman. The whole transvestite-whore-partner thing might create a problem with public relations for him though.

Nero sighed as he left the ruins of the Market where Solivitus had set up shop. He wasn't completely sure why or how the man was still working here...but he figured it had something to with Cullen. Knight Commander Cullen wasn't a bad man, he was reasonable, and after Meredith had died he had retracted the right of Annulment. Not that mages were safe in the city anymore anyway. Nero had heard that Cullen had to beg Solivitus to stay, he had great skill when it came to poultices and potions and many people had been hurt and would need his healing. Luckily most people were not aware that Solivitus was a mage, so he worked without much hassle.

Nero felt dejected because when the Chantry was destroyed debris had landed in his home, and his garden. Hardly any of his plants were still alive and he had just given Solivitus the last remaining ones and had to explain that he wouldn't be able to grow anymore. The chunk of rock that had smashed into his mansion had in turn brought most of the wall down on his plants in addition to the chunk of rock that had landed directly in the garden and then rolled _into_ the kitchen. So his garden was a mess and he wasn't sure it would be salvageable.

He also wasn't sure if it was worth his effort to try to salvage it. After Hawke had sided with the mages he was despised by most of the city and was driven out. His home had even been ransacked the week before, further proof that he was not welcome. His companions had not been blamed nearly as badly, but only Aveline, Nero and Fenris had stayed in the city. The rest had hopped on Isabela's chip and fled. Merril because she was a blood mage and therefore in danger, Isabela because Hawke needed to leave and she would help him, and Varric because...well, he never actually explained.

Aveline couldn't abandon her guards and Nero and Fenris were waiting for word from Sebastian to tell them that he had gathered his army, that he hoped he wouldn't have to use, to overtake Starkhaven. They were to join him when he was ready, Nero was not very impressed by this. He had no desire to abandon one war only to join another.

Fenris lately had a habit of suddenly declaring, over and over again, that he couldn't believe that he helped _mages_. Every time it did it only added on to the weight of the guilt that Nero carried with himself constantly. After handing Anders off to Bethany he had slowly made his way back to where the others were. He had stopped when he realized that he had to make the knife bloody and he needed blood on his hands, or they would never believe he did it. He was ready to stab himself for the blood when he found a man dieing, a piece of rubble crushing his pelvis and legs.

So he had asked the man if he wanted relief from his pain, he had said yes, and Nero had slit his throat, making sure to get blood all over himself. When he returned to the others he told them that he slit Anders' throat and dumped him in the waking sea, tied to a rock. He felt a burning guilt in lying to them all, especially Fenris, which they must have assumed was grief because nobody questioned him.

And then Hawke had to argue with Sebastian about helping the mages. The prince only agreed to join when Hawke reminded him that Elthina had considered everyone a part of her flock, even the mages, and that she would have advocated helping them in this fight because they were at such a disadvantage.

The absolute rage the holy man had when Orsino turned himself into an abomination was palpable, and Fenris was no better. Nero knew that Orsino's actions only served to strengthen their hatred against mages and had cursed the First Enchanter for it. He might have been able to tell Fenris the truth of what happened someday, a long way away, but still...someday. Now he knew that to tell Fenris the truth of what he did about Anders would serve to do nothing but destroy their relationship.

The only problem was the guilt that was tearing him apart inside. Fenris figured it was mourning from killing his friend, and tried his best to comfort Nero despite his hatred of Anders. This only made everything worse for Nero. He hated lying to the elf, he hated nodding when the elf tried using comforting words. He hated letting the elf hold him because he thought that he was mourning Anders when he was really mourning their relationship. Nero couldn't help but feel that it was falling apart. He avoided Fenris as much as he could, he delved into books that he had already read so that he wouldn't have to talk to the elf. He just didn't want Fenris to ask whether his grief over Anders death was getting less painful, he didn't want to lie in return. Each lie he told or went along with ate at him inside and a very small part of him couldn't wait to go to Starkhaven. They would be busy then.

Luckily for Nero they had begun discussing leaving the city to find Sebastian in Markham where he was gathering the troops. Many people in the city knew that Fenris and Nero had helped Hawke fight the templars to protect the mages, and several merchants wouldn't even look at them. Their neighbors were hostile towards them. The only person that hadn't been poorly affected by the templar/mage fight was Aveline, and that was only because Varric had put a lot of gold into getting people to spread the rumor that Aveline had fought _with_ the templars, not against them.

Fenris scowled as they passed a woman with her child, and they hurried to get as far away from Nero and Fenris as she could.

"I don't understand why they keep running away from us, it's not as if we've ever been talkative." Fenris muttered.

"Maybe they think that we're going to get struck down by the Maker." Nero suggested.

Fenris rolled his eyes as they turned the corner to their mansion and didn't see the mercenaries trying to pick the lock on the door. Nero grabbed him by the back of his spiky armor and pulled him back. Fenris frowned at him.

"People are breaking into our place." Nero hissed.

Fenris grew furious and pushed past Nero with the intention of stopping them when Nero grabbed him again and pushed him into the wall.

"We can't kill them!" Nero told the elf.

"Why not? They are trespassing on our property, its a crime. I'm sure Aveline will understand." Fenris snarled, angry at the men that were probably digging through his belongings right now.

"The deed to the house is in Hawke's name, Fenris. Since he's been driven from the city we're technically squatters, that's illegal too and what their doing could be sanctioned by the templars. Aveline can't fight the templars."

Fenris scowled, "all of our money, our stuff...its in there."

Nero looked away and thought quickly. Carefully he looked around the corner and noticed the men just open the front door. He called for the roots of some of the remaining plant life around the place and the second door, which was closed, was barricaded by the branches. It would take a while for the bastards to get in.

"Stay here." He hissed at the elf.

"What are you-"

He was cut off when Nero backed up and ran at the wall they were hiding behind and grabbed hold of a brick that was slightly jutting out halfway up. Since he had escaped Tevinter he had gotten into the habit of climbing... just about everything. The trees when he was in the forest, places he was staying at so that he could plan out escape routes so that men in full armor would have a hard time following him, and then eventually he just began doing it for the shits and giggles.

It wasn't until he was on top of the roof and he looked down to see the elf's stunned face that he realized that he had never actually done this in front of Fenris before. He waved and motioned for Fenris to stay before carefully running along their neighbor's rooftop towards his own place. He ran across the roof of his, well...Hawke's, mansion towards Fenris' room. Where they had both been staying. They kept everything in there, their money, their clothes, basically everything except their food and their books.

Glancing down at the ground he made sure that there were no Mercenaries scouting out the back of the mansion, and located the window of the room next to Fenris'. The bedroom windows were to narrow for him to enter, but the room on the right had a glass window, which he had a tendency to leave open just a crack. Fenris kept trying to insist that they lock it, but Nero told him if they had to make a quick escape then unlocking the window could mean that second between getting away and getting caught.

He had never intended on breaking _into_ his own mansion, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Carefully he climbed down the side of the wall, next to the window, till he was able to hang onto the edge of the window-frame. Pulling a newly acquired knife (after leaving the one he had with Tallis he had grown to miss it and had been forced to buy another one) from his belt he used the blade to carefully pry the window open. It was the kind that was attached to the frame in the middle and you pushed the bottom half out while the top half came inside. It was a terrible window if you wanted to catch a breeze.

He pulled the bottom of the window towards himself as far as it would go and pulled himself inside, rolling to his feet when he hit the floor. He paused for a moment and listened carefully. His trip across the rooftops and opening the window hadn't taken more than sixty seconds and the mercenaries were still trying to open the door that opened into the main hall.

Breathing a sigh of relief he opened the door and headed into the bedroom where he quickly grabbed two bags and pulled the board out of the ceiling in the closet and grabbed their stash of money. He put about half in both of the bags and grabbed as much clothing as he could, including Fenris' fancier armor/suit - which he quite liked seeing the elf in. He looked around the room quickly and grabbed the book that he and the book that Fenris had been reading and stuffed them in the bags before making his way to the other room.

Unfortunately once he entered the main hall the door was thrown open and the first mercenary caught sight of him. When the man hollered Nero ran into the other room and strapped one pack on his back while he was forced to carry the other by the strap in his teeth.

He quickly climbed out of the window and closed it, jamming his knife into the crack in hopes of hindering the mercenaries. He was already on the roof by the time they reached the window and he quietly, but quickly, made his way across the rooftops to where Fenris was. He whistled down to the elf and dropped the bag into his arms before climbing down about halfway and jumping to the ground.

Fenris raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know you could do that."

"Priorities, we have to leave."

* * *

I've already started act 4 and I kind of want to wait till its done before I post it, but i probably wont, so...stay tuned!


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